My Wonderful Family
by PixelDemise
Summary: The Kanames are just too kind for their own good. Taking in not one, not two, but four girls as adopted daughters? Madoka however, is ecstatic at the thought of all her new sisters. (Series of oneshots in a Non-Magical AU where the four other girls are adopted by the Kanames). Marked as completed, as each story is mostly stand alone, but updates will continue when I write something
1. An Ordinary Morning

Hello again. I was trying to think of a good idea to write for when this idea came to me. An AU where magical girls and witches don't exist, Kyubey doesn't either(at least as an incubator), and everyone is just a normal girl. Even more, they are all family, so don't expect any romantic ships. Still, this is a series of One shots, so each chapter is stand alone and with the exception of this first one to explain everything, they all can be read without needing to have read any other chapter. Enjoy.

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One of the best feelings in the world is to sleep in on the weekends, knowing that nothing was planned for the day. However, that feeling is quickly erased by the annoyance of a blaring alarm, something Madoka Kaname was learning quite harshly.

She rolled over in her bed onto her stomach, and pulled the covers over her head. Her arm poked out of the side of the sheet as she began slapping around on her nightstand, searching for her alarm. A loud groan came from beneath the covers as she was unable to find it. Pushing the covers back and turning her head to look, the alarm clock was slightly out of reach.

She crawled over to the edge of the bed and stretched her arm out to reach the clock. Finally hitting the off button, she lifted her back up slightly to adjust to a more comfortable position. Unfortunately, by lifting her back off the bed, her body weight was centered on the edge of the bed.

With a slam, Madoka hit the floor. She groaned louder than before as she lifted herself up onto all fours. Rubbing the sleep from her eye, she slowly got up and walked over to her desk.

She took a small mirror from it and examined herself. She wasn't hurt from the fall, but it did mess her hair up pretty bad, or that may have been bed head, she wasn't sure. She grabbed a small brush and quickly flattened her pink hair down somewhat. She would really clean it up in the bathroom, but for now she wanted to at least look not quite as embarrassing to her family in case they say her before she cleaned herself up.

Now that she looked semi-presentable, she decided not to get dressed as her pink pajamas were very comfy and since it was only Autumn, it wasn't too cold out.

She opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. The upstairs floor was quiet, but she could hear some chatter from downstairs. Her Papa must be cooking breakfast; she could smell it from here.

She quickly ran to the spacious bathroom by her parent's bedroom, hoping to avoid being seen before she could clean up. She moved to the sink and began pulling out the soap, her toothbrush and toothpaste as well as a hairbrush. She ran the water and waited for it to get warm, before splashing her face in it. In just a moment, her face was washed and her teeth were clean. It took little time to brush her hair and tie it up in its usual pigtails.

A quick look over in the mirror confirmed it, if her Mama was with her, she would say Madoka looked very pretty. She flashed herself a smile, her day couldn't start without a warm smile after all.

She turned about and left the bathroom. Right as she was opening the door, a yawn struck her. She froze to let it pass, but right as it did someone grabbed her. She yelped and jumped away, spinning around to see who had surprised her. The assaulter was wearing a short blue skirt with a grey T shirt, and short blue hair came down to her neck but no further.

"Good morning My-Lovely-Big-Sis" the person called out, putting a teasing stress on the "my big sis".

It was Sayaka, her closest friend who now lived with her.

"Sayaka! I told you already, you don't need to call me that!" Madoka was flustered. Even if they were indeed now sisters, step-sisters at least, she still couldn't accept being called sister by someone she had been friends with almost her whole life.

"I gotcha, I gotcha. Jeez Madoka, it's so easy to get you all riled up." Sayaka's grin was huge, she took every opportunity she could to tease Madoka and this one was no less amusing than the others. "Oh might want to check your foot there, you got a bit of toilet paper stuck to it."

Madoka just glared at her. "Sayaka, I wasn't using the toilet, I was washing my face."

"Hehe… Man I hoped you would fall for it."

Madoka sighed, Sayaka's teasing was annoying at times, but Madoka enjoyed it. If she didn't, there was no way she would have been friends for so long with Sayaka.

"Come on Sayaka, lets head downstairs for breakfast. Let's try to get it before Tatsuya wakes up and eats it all!" Madoka rushed towards the stairs, her stomach growling.

They both passed by a window and stopped to look outside. It was getting chilly out, in the next month winter would be arriving.

"Come on… Why can't you snow already?" Sayaka pouted at the outside view. "I really want it to snow so we can get a break from school!"

"School isn't that bad Sayaka." Madoka paused to think for a moment. "And you know that it won't be winter for a while."

"Still I want it to snow, snow is better than everything else." Sayaka scoffed and turned away down the hall.

Madoka sighed and watched her head to the kitchen before following her. Sayaka never really liked school, she liked being there with Madoka and her other friends, but she always said the atmosphere of school was not very enjoyable. Any opportunity to skip school was one she would take in a heartbeat.

When Madoka entered the kitchen she saw Sayaka had already sat down at the table, laying across it in a depressed manner. Her Papa was across form Sayaka looking over the paper. Mama wasn't good at cooking, and if Papa wasn't cooking, that must mean!

Madoka turned to look behind the counter. Dressed in a brown skirt that went down to her knees, and a white button down shirt covered by a flowery apron over top, was Mami.

Madoka was ecstatic. While Papa's cooking was great, Mami's was even better! She tried to silently sneak behind Mami to see what she was cooking, the smells all mixed together so she couldn't tell what it was.

She was only a few feet away when Mami spoke.

"Good morning Madoka, did you sleep well?"

Madoka jumped for the second time that day. "Aww… I wanted to surprise you! Good morning Mami. I slept really well, what about you?"

Mami was the first addition to their family. The Kaname's took Mami in when she was invited over for dinner. During the dinner Madoka's parents learned that Mami had lost her parents in a car accident was now living alone off of the massive amount of money they had saved. Madoka's parents had opened their home to Mami and if she wished, and Madoka was really glad Mami accepted the offer. Mami was a really nice and reliable person, like a super awesome big sister, even if they were the same age.

Mami opened her mouth to respond, but before she could Madoka's stomach began growling again.

"Hungry I see." Mami responded with a chuckle. "It will be ready soon, go sit down and I will bring it to you when it is done."

Madoka nodded as she ran back to her chair at the table. She seated herself next to Sayaka as she waited for the food. She didn't realize it until now, but some people were missing.

"Hey Papa?"

Madoka's father Tomohisa looked up from the paper. "Yes Madoka?"

"Where is everyone? It is just us four but usually everyone else is here."

"Well your mother seems to have caught some bug, so she is sleeping in to recover. Homura is out shopping since we needed a few things for dinner, she should be back soon. Tatsuya…" Tomohisa looked at the clock. "He should be awake, I'm not sure why he isn't down here ye-"

He was interrupted by Madoka's 3-year-old brother running into the room giggling. Following right behind him was another adopted member of the family, Kyouko. Dressed in jeans with a red and blue top covered in images of the snack food she loved, she had her arms up in the air and was walking like a giant monster as she chased Tatsuya. Her scarlet hair was in its usual ponytail however she had it flipped backwards over her face to make her look scarier.

"Rwahhaaaaa! I'm gonna getcha! I'm gonna eatcha for breakfast! Rawaaaahhhhh!" She yelled out in an overly deep voice as she stomping into the kitchen.

Tatsuya ran over to Mami and hid behind her.

"Big Sis Mami! Big Sis Koko wans to eat me! Don't wet her eat me!" he yelled, still giggling.

Mami reached down and ruffled his hair with one hand while still cooking with the other. "I won't let your big sis eat you ok? Also good morning Kyouko, good to see you got him up so quickly."

"Ahehehe… It wasn't much, you know he likes me so it ain't too hard to get him up." Kyouko said dropping the monster act. "Something smells good, whatcha cooking?"

"I am making some pancakes today. They should be ready soon so go take a seat and I will bring them over."

"Awesome, your cooking's the best here!" She said with a massive grin on her face.

"Kyouko, that hurts." Tomohisa said, feigning pain at hearing Kyouko's comment.

"Don't worry Pops, your cooking ain't bad either." Kyouko reached her hand out and took Tatsuya's hand and led him over to the table. "And up ya go!" she lifted him up into his high chair and helped him settle in at the table before sitting down next to him.

Madoka watched the sight with a smile. Since her parents took Kyouko in, she quickly became close with Madoka's younger brother. It helped her Papa a lot because Tatsuya was quite a handful, and also it allowed her to have someone to goof off and run around with.

"Didn't that all seem a little weird to you?" Sayaka whispered to Madoka.

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"I mean they didn't have a fight or anything, usually they can't talk without the mood getting spoiled." Sayaka looked over at Kyouko and then to Mami.

"Sayaka… You know they aren't on such bad terms they can't even greet each other. Plus, they have been living together for a while now, they can't stay upset at each other forever."

Madoka was glad to see them being friendly again. She never really asked about it, but Kyouko and Mami had some sort of history that wasn't very nice. They knew each other a while back and got into some type of huge fight. Shortly after, Mami moved here and it wasn't until they took her in after the accident that she met Kyouko again. Up until recently whenever the two talked it was always very tense. It seemed they finally were getting over whatever happened before.

"If you say so Madoka…" Sayaka looked at the two oddly, as if she didn't believe they actually were making up.

Madoka's thoughts were interrupted when Mami placed a plate in front of her. She looked up to see Mami placing several plates around the table. Once everyone had a plate, Mami placed a massive plate filled to the brim with a large amount of pancakes alongside several different types of syrup and a stick of butter.

"Help yourself!" She said, a hint of pride in her voice at another meal well made. She removed the apron and hung it up by the pantry before grabbing three plates. One she set at an empty seat for herself, the other she held in her hand as she placed two pancakes on top. Moving to the cupboard, she pulled out the clear wrap and began to cover the plate in the wrapping before placing it in the fridge alongside a sticky note indicating it was for whenever Madoka's mother woke up and got hungry. The third plate was for when Homura returned.

Sayaka grabbed two pancakes herself and slathered them in syrup before digging in like a wild animal. Madoka grabbed two as well, however one she cut in half and placed back onto the plate. Adding a slice of butter and some syrup she began digging in as well. Kyouko took three for herself and took the half that Madoka left and began cutting it up and placed it onto Tatsuya's plate and went about helping him put his syrup on.

The meal was over quickly as everyone couldn't help but devour Mami's wonderful cooking with glee. Clean up began shortly after, with Mami and Sayaka helping Tomohisa wash the dishes and clean the table. Kyouko was cleaning the mess up on Tatsuya's face with a damp cloth.

Madoka returned to the living room while she waited for everyone to finish up so they could do something together. While waiting, she took her backpack out and began working on her English homework. She had to translate an English fairy tale into Japanese. It was difficult because she had trouble with English. The language was complicated and had so many weird rules, and it wasn't like Japanese, a language that was nice and simple, aside from all the Kanji to learn and the overwhelming amount of object indicators for counting.

She was so busy focusing on the translations that she didn't hear the door open and someone walk in. It was only when the sound of bags dropping onto the table filled the room that she noticed and looked up.

"Homura!" Madoka exclaimed ecstatically.

"I am back with the groceries we needed." Homura's monotone voice replied. She removed her jacket and hung it up in the closet. She was wearing a grey skirt, black stockings, a dark blue button down with white sleeves and a white capelet.

"Thanks for getting those Homura, I can put them away so you go relax." Tomohisa dried off his hands and went to put the food away, leaving Mami and Sayaka to finish the post meal clean up. "Also if you want some, Mami put some pancakes in the fridge for you."

"I ate before heading out. I may have them later." Homura shook her head at the offer. She turned to head into the living room to see what Madoka was doing.

She moved over to Madoka at the table in the living room and sat down next to her. She silently looked over at Madoka's work and examined it as Madoka kept trying to translate the passage.

" _'Once the twenty-four years of service to you have ended, as payment, I shall claim your eternal soul to return with me to Hades' kingdom._ ' would be a better way to put it." Homura broke the silence.

"Huh?" Madoka looked up surprised.

"You have it mostly right, but you are still missing a few things. I am sure that the teacher doesn't mind not using archaic English for your translation since that is very difficult even for native English speakers, but you make it sound too casual. Mephistopheles isn't talking in a casual manner; this is a business deal to him so he speaks formally."

Madoka wasn't surprised at Homura's comment. She was naturally skilled at everything and learning English was nothing to her. "Thanks a lot Homura! Could you stay around here if I need some more help?"

"Of course." Homura's face was stoic, but Madoka could see the barest rise in the edges of Homura's mouth. Homura didn't show much emotion, but if you know how to look, you could tell how she was feeling really easily.

Madoka continued working while the others cleaned up the house a little. Almost an hour later they had finished and were let go to mess around since they had the day off. Kyouko and came over to Madoka and Homura and sat down by them.

"Hey Madoka, Homura. How bout we take Tatsuya out to the park in a bit. I'm sure he'd like to play outside before the snow starts falling." Kyouko was the first one to talk.

Madoka looked up from her homework at Kyouko, then down to her homework again, then back up to Kyouko.

"Come on Madoka, you still have 2 weeks for that project. Are you really going to let your little brother rot away without the love of his older sister" Sayaka complained in an overly dramatic fashion, throwing herself onto the table like she had just lost the love of her life.

Madoka looked over to Homura, silently asking what she wanted.

"I think it would be nice, but whatever you want."

Madoka thought for a moment, her face scrunching up as she did so. She finally came to a decision.

"Alright, let me put this away and get dressed then we can head out."

Sayaka stifled a laugh. "Right right, you still are in your PJs at…" she looked towards the clock, "Noon. Man Madoka, so lazy!" Sayaka threw another tease at Madoka.

Homura suddenly appeared behind her and bopped her head. No one noticed her get up and move so everyone was surprised. No matter how often she did things like that, they never got used to it. It was like Homura could stop time whenever she wanted.

"Hey Homu! What's that for!" Sayaka yelled, holding her head and rubbing the spot she was hit.

"Stop teasing Madoka so much." Homura's response was stoic as ever.

"Geh… You're no fun Homu…"

Homura wacked Sayaka again, this time harder. "Stop calling me Homu."

"Got it Homu-Homu."

Homura just sighed and returned to Madoka's side muttering something.

"What's got you riled up?" Kyouko began grinning at the same moment Sayaka did. "You said to stop calling her Homu, never said anything about Homu-Homu." Kyouko added, joining in on the fun.

"Madoka, please hurry up and get ready. Also Kyouko, go get Tatsuya ready, he may take some time to prepare." Homura figured the longer they stayed here teasing, the longer it would take to get to the park.

"Right!" Madoka shut her book and ran off upstairs to change. Kyouko pushed herself up out of her seat and stretched.

"Gotcha, now where's that little rascal at this time?" Kyouko asked rhetorically as she began searching for Tatsuya.

Homura watched her leave before turning to Sayaka.

"We might as grab our jackets and inform Father of our trip. I am sure he would enjoy the quiet along with Mami, unless she wishes to join us."

Homura got up and went into the kitchen, leaving Sayaka in the living room. She came out shortly after and informed Sayaka that Mami would be staying home in case Madoka's mother needed anything.

The two went to the closet and pulled out their jackets and put them on as they waited for Madoka and Kyouko to arrive. Kyouko came in with her fiery red jacket on and Tatsuya dressed in a green thick jacket was riding on her shoulders. Madoka came in shortly after now fully dressed for the outside. She was wearing a one-piece pink dress that ran down to her knees with a light red blazer over top. She ran to the closet and pulled out a long white jacket that ran down to her feet and pulled it on.

"Alright, ya all ready?" Kyouko asks jumping slightly and letting Tatsuya giggle as he bounced on her shoulders.

"Ready! Ready!" he cheerfully yelled.

Sayaka gave a nod as she adjusted her light blue jacket to let it fit more comfortably. Homura zipped her dark purple jacket up and opened the door and left the house. Kyouko followed with a smile, ducking so Tatsuya wouldn't hit his head. Sayaka followed after her and held the door open as she urged Madoka to follow. She left the house, walking side by side with her new family, a wonderful smile on her face.

 _All my friends… No my sisters, I love them all._

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I hope I got everyone to come out alright. This is the first time writing something with actual personalities already set in, so I hope everyone feel in character. If anyone has a request for a future chapter, let me know and I may consider it! Stay tuned for more.


	2. Around A Nonexistent Campfire

I'm back. This chapter I had a lot of fun writing. I feel like with so many people in the house, pranks and tricks are always being played on each other to help keep so many people entertained. 

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Sayaka laid on the couch, staring out the window with a look of frustration. She was really pissed off. Pissed at the TV, pissed at the weather man, pissed at the rain, pissed at the rain, so pissed at the rain. The way it slammed into the window was almost as if it was mocking her. She hated it so much right now!

It kept pattering against the window as it had been for several hours. The weather said there was a low chance of rain today, but that low chance had somehow turned into a rainstorm.

Sayaka growled as she kept staring out the window, hoping maybe her glare would scare off the rain. So far it wasn't doing much, but maybe if she kept going for a while longer something would happen.

She was interrupted by someone sitting on her. The sudden weight made her lose her breath as she struggled to move and kick the person off.

"What's gotcha so down Sayaka?"

It was Kyouko, she should have expected that. Kyouko was the only one to do this type of thing.

"Off… Breathe… Can't…" Sayaka struggled to fill her lungs with air, her friend, now step-sister, sitting on her back wasn't helping at all.

Kyouko stood up and repositioned herself next to Sayaka on the other end of the couch.

"Ya really hate the rain that much?"

Sayaka grumbled as she flipped herself over onto her back.

"Not really, I like the rain." Glaring out at the window again. "Except when it ruins our plans."

Kyouko looked out at the rain. She was upset too, not as much as Sayaka was though.

"We could always head to the mall another day. It isn't like it's gonna be torn down any time soon."

Sayaka's glare shifted to Kyouko.

"You only come with us because we ask, or because you run out of snacks. You can wait to go, but I wanted to get one of the first shipments from the CD store!"

Kyouko smiled, she was coming up with something that might cheer Sayaka up. Hopefully Sayaka would unknowingly play along and let her set the plan up.

"Ya really think anyone's gonna be out in that, much less anyone who likes that stupid music of yours."

Sayaka jumped up, her head red with anger.

"Hey! It isn't stupid! You don't understand how great Classical is!"

Kyouko shrugged and turned the other way to hide her growing grin.

"If ya say so, still pretty girly though. You should be more like me, awesome, strong and cool!"

"I'm much stronger, awesomer and cooler than you!"

Sayaka was fuming, Kyouko was treating her like a coward. She wasn't a coward! She was awesome and strong, just like a hero!

Kyouko spun around with a dangerous look on her face.

"Prove it to me then."

Sayaka was taken aback by Kyouko's sudden request. Whenever Kyouko had this expression, it never ended well for anyone.

"Scary stories. You, me, anyone else who wants to join. One of our bedrooms, lights off, keep going till one of us screams!"

Kyouko's plan was out now. If Sayaka wouldn't cheer up due to their plans being ruined, she would make her cheer up. Nothing better to do that than horror!

Sayaka's eyes narrowed. She took a few moments to think it over. She had a few stories of her own, but she had no idea Kyouko liked this type of thing. Who knows what kind of horrible things Kyouko had stored away in her head.

She wasn't going to back down. Not in a contest, she had to show that she was stronger than Kyouko was.

"Alright, just you and me though. No one else is allowed. They might ruin it."

"You're on!"

The duo retreated upstairs to their shared room and set everything up. Blinds closed, door shut, lights off. They even used blankets hung between bed posts and chairs to form a small tent to block out any remaining light.

They both sat across from each other in the dimly lit tent. The only source of light was a small lantern that they took from storage.

Staring at each other, they spent several minutes in silence as they began to recollect their stories. In an attempt to start the contest, Kyouko spoke up.

"Sure ya ain't too scared to continue, feel free to back out if ya want."

Sayaka glared at Kyouko.

"I'm not backing out, I was about to start!"

Kyouko suppressed a laugh at Sayaka's flustered face. This was going to be very amusing to her. She liked creepy stuff, so she couldn't wait to see Sayaka try and fail to scare her with silly stories.

Sayaka cleared her throat and took a deep breath before starting.

"So… Tell me Kyouko, have you ever heard of He Who Waits Behind The Walls? The terrifying Jalgo?"

Their competition to see who could come up with the scarier story continued for almost an hour. Sayaka had pulled out her most terrifying stories in hopes of winning against Kyouko.

Kyouko was unfazed by all of it. Most of what Sayaka shared was all the cliché popular stuff. Things like Neb drowned, The Slinderman, the lost "Pocketed Monstrosities Black" game. None of them were scary at all. Kyouko was forced to choke down her laughter so that Sayaka wouldn't lose spirit and she could have her turn to scare Sayaka.

When it came Kyouko's turn, she used a different approach. Whereas Sayaka used internet stories and CreepyPastas to try and scare Kyouko, Kyouko used some of her favorites stories from a lesser known corner of the web, ones that she had been saving for a long time to tell.

Stories like "Pitter-Patter", a tale of invisible men only noticeable due to the way the rain runs down their skin, and their footsteps splashing in the rain. Her personal favorite was Cave Paintings. A cave far away in the mountains, with walls covered in paintings of horned demons brutally murdering people. Those that sleep in the cave at night don't always wake up with the same number of people in their group.

By the end of her turn Sayaka was a shivering mess. She didn't intend for it to get this bad, but she couldn't help but enjoy the sight of the usually confident and brash girl curled into a ball almost sobbing. She justified her stories because as terrifying as they were, her plan had worked. Any depression Sayaka may have had earlier was now gone.

She crawled forward and grabbed the lantern before standing up. She pulled the blanket tent down and set the lantern on the chair that held the tent up.

"So… How was it."

Sayaka was shivering and her voice cracked as she tried to respond.

"N-N-Never a-ag-gain. L-Last t-time I'm doing this w-with you."

Kyouko just chuckled at her reaction. She guessed Sayaka was a little more of a scaredy-cat than she let on. This would be fun to tease her with later on.

She moved towards the door and opened it up, letting light back into the room. She took a few moments to let her eyes adjust to the brightness, before flipping the light switch and turning the lights on.

"Gotta say, I liked it. Yours needed some improvements, but mine were fun to tell. We should do this again sometime! Maybe we could bring Madoka in on it, Homura too." A massive grin was spread across her face at the idea of a terrified Madoka clinging to Homura.

All she got in response from her friend was a frantic head shake.

Kyouko's face fell at the sight of her friend. Maybe she went a little too far, way past where she should have stopped.

She walked back over and sat down next to Sayaka and put an arm around her shoulders.

"Sayaka, come on… It is all just stories. None of it's real. If it was it would be a big thing on the news."

Sayaka curled up into Kyouko, trying to forget about all the horrors she had just heard. Kyouko just sighed and pulled her closer.

"Went too far I guess, sorry… Didn't mean to scare ya like that. I just wanted ya to have some fun. I didn't like how depressed you were over the rain ruining our outing."

Sayaka's voice had become a little more stable along with her shaking, but it was still quiet. "Why didn't you do something else then?"

"Eh… Couldn't think of anything. I mean you know how I am. I ain't a thinker so I went with the simplest idea. I figured a good scare along with a competitive air would help ya forget."

Sayaka took a deep breath and sighed. "It did work, I'm not as angry anymore. Still…" Stretching out her legs, Sayaka stood up and continued. "You're right, it is all just stories. None of it is real at all."

"That's my girl, don't let anything keep ya down!" Kyouko gave her an enthusiastic cheer to boost her spirits. "Now!" Kyouko leapt to her feet and placed a hand on her stomach. "I'm starving! Let's go grab some grub from the kitchen!"

Kyouko began walking towards the door, and right as she reached it, it slammed shut.

"The hell?" Kyouko reached for the door handle and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge.

Sayaka came up behind her, eyebrows furrowed. "What's wrong?"

"Dunno, something slammed the door shut and won't let me open it." Kyouko began knocking on the door. "Hey Homura, this you?! You trying to prank us or something?!" She kept rattling the door knob.

Sayaka nudged Kyouko in the side and began speaking loudly, intending for whoever was on the other side to hear her. "WELL IF THE DOOR WON'T OPEN, I GUUUUUUEEESSSSS WE HAVE TO KICK IT DOWN! I BET MOM AND DAD WILL BE REALLY ANGRY AT WHATEVER MADE US KICK THE DOOR DOWN!"

Kyouko and Sayaka shared a grin as they stepped backwards.

"HERE WE GO!" Kyouko yelled, waiting for the door to open and a panicked Homura or Madoka to barge in apologizing.

Instead of the door opening, instead a static noise came from the door. Suddenly, the lights went out. Sayaka panicked and spun around. Everything was dead. The digital clock in their room was off, her laptop charger cord wasn't glowing, everything had shut off.

"The hell…" Kyouko tried to look around as well, but everything was too dark to see. Their eyes had adjusted to the light and they had lost their low light vision from their story time. She tried to locate the lantern but it was difficult to do so in the dark.

They both spun around when they noticed something, a sound. It was a faint sound like someone exhaling, but the noise level never changed. Kyouko took an uneasy step towards the sound, but froze when suddenly something began glowing.

In front of her, coming from the location of the noise was two glowing red dots. They hovered a few feet above them, bobbing slightly in the air. The duo sat there staring at the lights when Kyouko tried to get close to them but they vanished, only to reappear elsewhere in the room.

A groaning noise filled the dark room, then a voice began to talk.

" _You humans… You think you know us… You think you know true terror… You know nothing…"_ The voice was soft and spectral, like what most people thought a ghost would sound like. " _None of you understand anything at all… Let me show you true horror… Join us… And know everlasting darkness!"_

The lines the voice said were cheesy, but with how sudden it appeared and the lingering atmosphere from earlier, Kyouko and Sayaka both screamed. Neither of them thought ghosts were real. Sayaka was scared of the dark, but she knew supernatural stuff was fake. Kyouko loved horror, but she loved it because it wasn't real. A sixth sense they had allowed them to locate and cling to each other in the dark.

The eyes began floating towards them, getting closer and closer. Each second seemed like an eternity as they both began praying that their end be quick and painless.

Right as the eyes were about to reach them, the door slammed open and several voices laughing came from the other side.

Kyouko and Sayaka turned to see what just happened. At the door frame was Junko Kaname, their adoptive mother along with Homura, Mami and Madoka. Junko was laughing like an evil mastermind while the other two tried to hide their laughs, Homura didn't laugh, but an unusual smile was covering her face.

Kyouko spun around to see what was in front of them. It was a remote controlled drone with a camera, speaker and two red lights attached.

" _How was true horror?"_ the ghost's voice spoke from a speaker placed on the RC, as well as from Junko who had a microphone in her hands. " _You both screamed so loud, it was great!"_

Kyouko was flabbergasted. The ghost, the door, the lights, it was all her mother?

Sayaka on the other hand, looked like a deer in the headlights. She was frozen, staring at her family with wide eyes.

Kyouko eventually lost it and began laughing alongside Junko, Sayaka still stood frozen.

"Damn that was a good one! You really got me there! How did ya do it?" She spoke out in between laughs.

"You both seemed down after the rain ruined our outing plans." Homura was the one to speak first. "I was requested by Mother to find a way to cheer you both up. I figured with the rain and thunder, a scare would be most suitable."

Kyouko was surprised, she pointed a finger to herself. "Me? Down? Sayaka was the one who was down. I was tryin' to help cheer her up!" Kyouko froze for a moment before dropping her gaze to the floor. "Guess I got a little too wrapped up in cheering her up and made it look like I was down 'bout it too."

Junko shook her head. "Both of you are better now so who was and who wasn't doesn't matter much."

"Right right. Still how did ya do it? Like the lights, how did ya do that part?" Kyouko spun around and looked at the RV drone now resting on the floor. "And the drone, when did that get in here?"

"I overheard your plan to have a contest with Sayaka and so I had Homura hide her drone in your room before you arrived. She had it set up for the same plan, we just shifted it to your room instead of another room. Her work with fitting the lights, night vision camera and speakers was all amazing too. You did great Homura" Junko and Homura gave each other a high five, proud of their work.

"I gave them some assistance once I saw them preparing after you two had started." Mami had finally stopped her giggles. "When Homura gave me the sign, I flipped the breaker for your room and shut the power off. Madoka wanted to help, so she was the one who shut the door. She used a bit of thin string you wouldn't notice it."

Madoka gave a shy smile and waved. "Sorry Sayaka, Kyouko. I really wanted to try and cheer you guys up and I thought it would be fun to do this."

"Nah it's all fine. Glad ya enjoyed scaring us. I betcha Sayaka screamed louder than me." Kyouko teased, nudging Sayaka with her elbow.

Sayaka broke from her trance and glared at Kyouko. "No I didn't! You screamed a lot louder than I did!"

"Nuh uh ya little chicken!" Kyouko began running off down the hall, mocking Sayaka by making clucking noises.

Sayaka was getting angry at this. "Get back here you!" she screamed and chased after Kyouko down the hall. Everyone watched them with a smile as they ran off.

"Well then girls, I would consider that a scare well done!" Junko proudly pumped her fist. Mami, Madoka and Homura all gave nods of agreement.

"Then let's get to cleaning up, Mami would you mind resetting the breaker and get power back over here?"

Mami gave a quick confirm and left to flip the breaker and restore power to the bedroom. Homura began disassembling the parts of the RC drone, taking off the lights, camera and speaker. Madoka and her mother began to untangle the mess of wires coming from Homura's laptop. It didn't take them long to finish cleaning and they took all the parts to Homura's room to store away.

They were just about to finish setting everything away, when they heard a clicking sound coming from the door. The three of them froze, then slowly began turning around. Standing in the doorway was a tall black figure standing several feet taller than them. The creature's hair was dripping wet as it hung down all the way to its stomach. It slowly looked up at them and began growling.

"MONSTER!" The three girls screamed and ran out the door, shoving the figure out of the way. As they ran away the figure turned and took a few steps towards them before stopping. Once they vanished from sight, the figure pulled its hood back.

"They all have a long way to go before they get really good at scaring others. Well done Tatsuya"

"Uh huh!"

Tomohisa and Tatsuya gave each other a fist bump as Tomohisa removed the wig from his son and brought him down off his shoulders.

"Now how are we going to clean up all this water…" 

* * *

I always thought that Sayaka would be a fan of "horror"but she would see the cheesy stuff like Slenderman as scary. Kyouko on the other hand would be a massive horror fanatic. If anyone is wondering, Kyouko's stories are real stories from the SCP Foundation site. Both are really amazing stories. Cave paintings is really short and my favorite, Pitter-Patter is much longer but just as creepy and unnerving. As Fanfiction hates links for some reason, you can find them by just looking up SCP Cave Paintings or SCP Pitter-Patter. Stay tuned next time for a little secret of Kyouko's


	3. An Order of Secrets Coming Up!

I hope this chapter was out fast enough. Anyways this was a fun chapter to write as I personally relate to it. My first job was as a busboy at a local restaurant. The staff was really nice and I had known them since I was three years old. Enjoy. 

* * *

Kyouko groaned. The day was dragging by ungodly slowly. No one was walking through those front doors.

"I admit this ain't that big of a place, but still today we're getting no one!"

"Now now Kyouko, you know it is still early. The lunch rush still has a few hours to start and this place is more of a student hangout than an adult one." Her manager tried to calm the redhead's growing anger.

Kyouko never enjoyed school. She never paid attention in class, she forgot things easily, and only passed her first year thanks to rigorous studying with the aid of Madoka and Homura. At the end of her first year of school, she was sick of it, so she suggested a deal to her adoptive parents. The deal: let her stay home and, instead she would work and help cut budget costs for the girls.

At first her parents were unsure. She was the oldest of the girls at sixteen years old, and her time spent homeless before her adoption gave her body good strength and endurance, but she was still young. It took several days of almost constant arguing in secret, she didn't want her step-sisters to worry, before her parents finally gave in.

It took some time before she found a job that paid well, had hours that would suit her and had good coworkers. In the end, she found a good job at a local restaurant. It served mostly foreign food, focusing on a mix of American grill food and Greek food.

Each school day she woke up around six, prepared for work and left by eight. Her shift began at nine which gave her some time to get to work and grab something to eat on the way. Most of the time she worked until four thirty. This schedule, if she rushed home, gave her a half hour until her sisters returned from school. Mondays and Tuesdays she was let off at one PM, right before the lunch rush began.

The girls knew she didn't do well in school, and she used that to her advantage. She didn't enjoy lying to them, but she told them she was going to a new school, somewhere that would be able to help her focus more than Mitakihara high could. If the others learned about her work she was sure they would try stop her from working and convince her to return to school, or they would attempt to get jobs of their own to help her. She didn't want that because they still had a few years to play around and enjoy their childhood. Plus, aside from Mami, none of them were at the legal age to even work.

"I know… I still want more people to come in. It's too slow. Plus, my little sis' birthday coming up, I need some money to get her something nice." Kyouko rested her arms on one of the divider walls and set her head against it, watching people walk by outside.

"Such a reliable older sister you are Kyouko. It makes me glad to see such a young girl working hard for her family." Her manager smiled at the sight of Kyouko worrying about her family.

"Boss, stop acting like a granny, you're only in your twenties." Kyouko went silent before burying her face in her arms to hide her smile. "The wrinkles say otherwise though."

The manager simply laughed at this. "Well I am pretty old. Most of my life is already wasted away. Maybe I can suck some of your youth and regain mine!"

Taking advantage of the empty store, the Manager jumped at Kyouko and began playfully attacking her. Kyouko quickly ducked out of her hold and whirled several feet away. The ribbon tying her black waist apron barely grazed past her manager's out stretched hands.

"Sorry old lady, my youth's my own. I ain't giving it to anyone." Kyouko pointed heroically at her boss. "If ya want my good looks, ya gotta pry them from my cold dead hands."

The Manager just giggled. "Kyouko? Shouldn't you be paying attention to the door?"

Kyouko scrambled to straighten out her uniform and pat down the wrinkles that formed. Nothing was on her jeans, her grey shirt adorned with the logo of her workplace on the back and on her left breast was good as well. She spun around and examined the group coming through the doors.

"I'll get these guys since the newbie's on break." Finally, some people were coming in!

Grabbing a menu from the server station, she greeted the customers who had come in and got them to a seat. It didn't take long for them to order and soon the ticket was in the back and their food was cooking. Her new coworker got off break and took the next group that came in as usual.

Kyouko checked the clock, she still had another half-hour till twelve thirty. The lunch rush should be starting by then. She was looking forward to it. As a server, most of her paycheck came from the tips she gets each day. Her paycheck from the store was alright, but on a good day she could get between eighty to a hundred dollars just from tips alone. Considering she worked most of the week, she never had to worry about running low on cash.

She checked the clock, twenty-nine minutes to go to the rush. She groaned silently, wondering why the day had to go so slowly…

More importantly though, her bladder was killing her. It seemed a visit to the restroom was in order. She took a moment to browse through her phone while on the toilet. She normally couldn't bring it out in the restaurant but since there were no cameras in the restroom, she used the time in it to check for messages and scroll a little through the internet. Most news sites were talking about some shooting somewhere. Crime was rising in the city, so, sadly these shootings were nothing new. She was glad she was off the streets now, even she would be having a tough time if she was still out there.

She finished and after washing her hands she left out to the restaurant floor. She passed by the new girl who mentioned that a group had come in while she was in the restroom and they had been seated but otherwise they were Kyouko's. Kyouko gave a quick thanks and pulled out a pen and paper as she went to get the groups order.

She walked up to the table that group was seated at and began her usual introduction.

"Morning, how're you all doing. Can I start you all off with a drin…"

Kyouko froze.

"Kyouko?"

 _Of all the people.  
_  
"When did you get a job here?"

 _Of all the days.  
_  
"Don't you go to school?"

 _Out of everyone it could be, a rude customer, a pervert, some funny looking person she couldn't help but laugh at._

"H-Heya sises…"

 _It had to be her sisters._

"C-Can I just your orders? J-Job comes first ya know…"

The air was stale and awkward. For most of the year she had been hiding this job, she was so lucky that they never got out early from school. When they did have early dismissal she knew about it and could adjust her work schedule accordingly. That way she knew 100% that they could never find out about her job, until today.

"Right. Girls you can go first." Mami seemed to have taken charge. As the second oldest, Kyouko suspected Mami was trying to help Kyouko have an excuse to retreat and prepare herself.

The four of them all gave their orders and Kyouko retreated to the back to place the ticket on the cook's wheel. She got permission to take a few minutes off from her Manager since it was so slow. Taking several deep breaths, she still didn't feel prepared. This day was bound to have happened at some point, but she didn't expect it so soon.

She took her apron off and shoved it under the server's station before grabbing the drinks they ordered and heading to the section her sisters sat in. She pulled a chair from a nearby table over to them once drinks were in place and sat down, feeling pressured from the stares of the four girls.

"So… uhhh… I guess ya wanna know why I am here, huh?"

"When did you get this job Kyouko?"

"I thought you were in school."

"What about your studies?"

"How long have you been here?"

Madoka and Sayaka kept hammering her with questions too fast for her to respond to any. Homura and Mami stayed silent, likely knowing how difficult this was for Kyouko. Though their faces both betrayed a silent request to have an answer given.

"Let me start with this." Kyouko began. "That first year of school didn't go so great, so I got Mom and Pops permission to get a job and help with money. After all, getting four new kids wasn't easy on the budget. I would pay for most of you guys stuff, and work instead of going to school. I figured one of you could help me with school stuff when college finally came around. If not, I could wait have learn it with Tatsuya when he gets to high school."

"But by the time he would be in high school, it would be too late for you! You wouldn't be able to get a good adult job!" Sayaka tried to scold Kyouko for her lack of thought, however Sayaka was not very good at scolding.

"Didn't think that far ahead." Kyouko gave an unsure laugh. "Truth be told, I didn't wantcha guys to find out cause then you would try and either make me quit or get jobs alongside me. I didn't want that, I wanted you guys to enjoy your high school years with worrying over a job. Plus, not like any of you could even get a job, 'sides Mami of course."

"Correct Kyouko, even if we wanted to get jobs, only us two are legally of age to work." Mami supported Kyouko's story. "Still, it would have been nice to know earlier on."

"It explains the unusual bed times." Homura final spoke up. "You always were in bed before midnight, even on days we wanted to stay up as then, with the exclusion of Saturdays."

"I gotta get up a little earlier than you guys, plus I am running around all day so I need the rest. Working here is pretty tiring, Fridays are really busy, we always get super filled then so by the end of the day I'm exhausted."

"We always see you at home when we get back though." Sayaka was confused. If Kyouko had work why didn't she ever work night shifts?

"My boss is pretty lax about the schedule. Most mornings it is me and another server since this place gets more customers at night then the day, they bring in the rest at night after I leave a bit before you guys get out. Speaking of school though, why're you all out now? You should still have another few hours before classes and clubs are over."

Everyone shuffled around uncomfortably when she brought up the subject. Mami was the first to talk.

"You haven't seen the news Kyouko?"

Kyouko shook her head. Something was off, she didn't like it.

"At our school, we were let out early due to… Some…" Mami went silent.

Kyouko was trying to think, what would have happened big enough to hit the news that would cause school to close. She felt like she was just barely missing it.

"A nearby shooting." Homura's voice broke the silence. "Gunshots came from the forest bordering the school building. Police later informed that there was a woman who had the intention of attacking the school for unknown reasons. She was found before she could begin by a man out on a walk. She retreated after she panicked and fired. At least that is what the police think happened. No one was hurt however."

Kyouko was stunned. Sure she liked fights and was a little bit into Homura's airsoft collection, but an actual gun? If you had to hurt someone and had no other way to get out of the fight, using something as cheap as a gun seemed like cheating to her. Fights were meant to be fist on fist, blade on blade. They were something to get rage and anger out. Guns were like a insta-kill cheat code in some game, and they took the whole reason to even fight away.

"Damn… None of you guys ran into her right?." Kyouko hide her worry. Based on how they looked, none of them seemed like they were taken by the woman.

"None of us encountered her. We were inside when she was found." Homura relieved her worries.

Kyouko sighed with relief. None of her sister were hurt, she was glad. If something had happened, she wouldn't have forgiven herself. She was the one who wasn't going to that school anymore and if that decision caused one of them to get hurt…

She shook the thoughts away. Sad thoughts like these cause more issues than they solve. She needed to think positive here. She was happy none of them got involved in it at all, and that was something to be glad about.

"Well I'm glad none of ya had to run into the lady. I might have had to hunt her down and beat her up myself if she hurt any of ya." Kyouko hide her lingering worries with a laugh. She knew they were safe, but she still was slightly worried, and the worry wasn't really something she could explain.

Madoka smiled at Kyouko. "We didn't though, so you don't have to go fight anyone."

Lord above… Madoka's smile was so pure. Kyouko could almost see the innocence radiating from her. She was so lucky to be in this family.

"That ya are. I'm glad you're all ok. I got another question though. What brought you here? Like this specific restaurant. There are flashier ones outside, this place is kinda a hole in the wall joint. Even more with that huge shopping center right outside."

Mami brought her hand to her face in an attempt to hide her giggle. "Well Kyouko, we had this place recommended to us by a few other students who overheard our conversation about where to get lunch now that school was closed."

Sayaka continued for Mami, a grin spreading on her face. "They said this place had nice food, and the workers were pretty nice too. Especially a certain hot headed red haired girl that was a server here. Did I say they also mentioned that redhead was really cuuuuuuute…" Sayaka was leaning out of her seat to bother Kyouko.

"She may be overplaying it somewhat, but she is right." Mami picked up this time. "A group of students recommended this place and said that there was a… If I remember word for word. A "cute and fiery red headed girl" who works there. We were both interested in the food, as you know we don't go out to foreign places often, and because this server reminded us of you so we had to investigate and see."

"Geh… Didn't know I got fans. Figured I would come off as a jerk to most. Guess some people got weird interests then." Kyouko was surprised at Mami and Sayaka's story. She thought she came off brash and rude to the customers, mostly because dealing with teenage boys grabbing at her butt all day tends to piss you off pretty fast.

A brief silence lingered over the table as everyone ran out of things to talk about. However, it was broken by an unexpected question.

"Umm, Kyouko? I wanted to ask something." Madoka spoke up, looking curious about something. "I was thinking over what you had said. You said that you would pay for our things. I wanted to ask what exactly did that mean? We already have allowances from Mama and Papa."

Everyone looked at Madoka as soon as she aired her question. It was a good question. Why did Kyouko say she would pay for them if they already had allowances.

Sweat rolled down Kyouko's face as soon as their gazes shifted to her. She hoped that had forgotten that bit. "Well… I figured it would be kinda suspicious if I was the one who handed the money out to you guys, so I gave it to Mom to pass out…"

Everyone was silent again for a few moments. Then suddenly Sayaka got riled up and began yelling.

"IS THAT THE REASON I GET THE LEAST AMOUNT FROM THEM! YOU'RE TRYING TO CHEAT ME OUT OF MY MONEY AREN'T YOU!"

"Whoops look at the time!" Kyouko glanced down to her wrist as if she had a watch on. "Gotta get back to work! See ya!" She scrambled to place the chair back at the table she borrowed it from and almost sprinted back to the server station. She could faintly hear Mami and Madoka trying to calm Sayaka down.

It wasn't that she wanted Sayaka to not get much. It was because Mom and Pop didn't really trust Sayaka to spend the money properly… So they gave her a little less than the more trustworthy girls. Still she did need to get back to work, a few other groups had come in since she sat down with them.

Retying the apron to her waist, she peeked behind the back and told the manager she was back working. The lunch rush was starting soon, and she needed to make sure she had enough to pay her sister's their allowance next week. 

* * *

Not to much to say here other than what I said before that this chapter was fun to write. Enjoy.


	4. Let Me Have A Happy Dream

Between Littlewitch Romanesque and Salt and Sanctuary I am surprised I got this out when I did. I sat on it for a while, editing small bits of it but I just kept doing that. If I didn't upload it I may have never even stopped "editing" it. Again, I have no reliable beta reader of yet so expect some grammar issues. Enjoy!

* * *

Everything was large. No, it wasn't large. Mami was really small. She only took up half of the backseat of the car and her head barely reached up to the window.

 _She watched the pretty lights pass by out the window. Sometimes there was a car, but it was dark out so not many cars passed by. She was getting sleepy. The bumps and steady rumbling of the car was making it hard to stay awake._

 _Her Mother and Father were in front seats. They had the radio on. It was playing music that her Father loved. He said it helped him focus on things. Mother always found it silly, but she never stopped him from listening to it._

 _Her parents were talking. She didn't get what the conversation was about. It had lots of big words like "patients" and "inventory". She didn't mind though. Her Father was a doctor, and her Mother ran the hospital that they both worked at. She was used to them having hard conversations that she didn't understand._

 _Suddenly everything was white. No, not white. There was a bright light. Mami couldn't see anything with how bright it was._

 _She jerked forward and then it stopped. She started flying towards the roof and then everything went black._

 _When her vision came back she was on the roof of the car. The seats were above her. She saw her Mother and Father in front of her. She thought her Father was wearing green, not red. They must have been asleep, neither was moving. Mother said adults sleeping on the road was bad, but since her Mother and Father are "reponsiple" people, they must be allowed to sleep on the road._

 _She tried to crawl forward and wake them up so they could explain what happened. Mami couldn't move, something had her leg._

 _She was getting very sleepy. Maybe if she took a nap, she would wake up in bed again. She didn't know why she moved to her bed when she fell asleep. Her Father said it was the sleep fairies, he must be right because he is always right._

 _Before she could close her eyes a bright light blinded her again. It was coming from above, where the door was. There was a man in the light. Was he an angel? Maybe the sleep fairies thought she was already asleep when she really wasn't._

 _She was really tired now. Her eyelids felt so heavy. She closed them and started to drift off. Tomorrow she could tell her Mother and Father all about the Sleep Fairy that she saw that night._

Mami jerked awake. Cold sweat was running down her body. Her breathing was labored and her heart was pounding.

A nightmare… That was it was. The accident was years ago. She was just having a dream. Just a dream, it wasn't real. She was in her bed in her house and she had just woken up.

It took several minutes for Mami to calm down. She hadn't had that nightmare in a long time, she was hoping she would have outgrown bad dreams at this point. She was fifteen, bad dreams were something little kids had. She was growing into a young adult; She shouldn't have them anymore.

Staying in bed wasn't going to help her get back to sleep considering how woken up she felt. Pushing the covers away Mami swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat there for a moment. Her heart was still racing; She could feel the pounding her neck. She took a few moments to steady her breathing before she stood up.

She pulled a pair of slippers on and went to the door of her room. She slowly opened it and stepped into the hallway. All the lights were off and the windows were dark. It was likely still late at night. In her panic she hadn't checked the time. She looked back over her shoulder into her room. Her clock read twelve forty.

Mami let out a large sigh. She had planned to wash her face and try to go back to sleep, but she doubted sleep would come easily, if at all.

She walked through the dark hallway to the restroom. Slipping inside, she closed her eyes before turning the lights on. The brightness wasn't as bad with her eyes shut so she took a moment to let her eyes adjust to the light.

Once she was no longer blinded by the sudden brightness, she went to the sink and turned the water on. She splashed her face with luke warm water and cleaned the sweat from her face. She shut off the tap and looked at the sink.

Her face was slightly red and her eyes were watery. Was she crying? Maybe she should have checked before washing her face.

Large bags sat under her eyes, not surprising. Sleep had been cruel to her lately. Whether it was that she couldn't sleep, or that she was able to sleep but she didn't feel rested, she was always tired lately. It was almost the anniversary of the crash.

She didn't like using that word. "Anniversary" made it sound like a good thing. Losing her parents, being badly injured and the painful adjustment to living alone as a young girl was horrible. It took her so long just to accept the death of her Mother and Father, the time spent learning how to take care of herself was salt on an already agonizing wound.

She smiled slightly. She did another medical idiom. She never did stop doing that, though she didn't really want to. It was a way of remembering her parents.

She took a towel and wiped the water from her face. Her body felt disgusting, like it had a second layer of rotten skin on top of her own. A bath at this time of night would make too much noise, she didn't want to bother her family by waking them up.

She looked back towards the towel. Should she undress and wipe herself down? It would be rather easy, but it would take time. If someone came in during it and saw her, they might ask why she was doing it and she didn't want to bother them with her troubles.

She could pass it off with an excuse if that happened. "Oh I spilled a drink and didn't want to make noise with a bath." Something like that would work, she hoped.

She took the wash bin from under the sink and filled it with warm water from the tap. She took a rag and let it soak in the water. Slipping her nightgown and women's briefs off, she took the rag and began to run it down her body.

It wasn't quite like a bath, not nearly as soothing, but it was somewhat calming. It felt like the water was washing away the bad feelings. She washed all over her body until the disgusting feeling on her skin left. She took one of the nearby towels and quickly dried herself. Her body wasn't very wet since it was only a wet rag and not a real bath. She could take a bath in the morning.

She redressed herself and went back to her room. Her gown felt gross as well, the sweat must have clung to it. She undressed again and tossed her clothes into her hamper before taking out a new set of sleeping clothes.

Before she could move back to her bed and try to get to sleep, her stomach growled. She paused for a moment, and placed hand on her stomach. She was hungry, but going downstairs for a quick snack was…

It was bizarre. She wanted to get some food, but at the same time she didn't want to eat anything. Her stomach would keep pestering her and keep her from sleeping, getting something to eat may be the smart choice.

She left her room again, this time turning to head down the stairs. Her eyelids felt heavy despite not being tired, so she closed her eyes and let her knowledge of the house guide her past obstacles. She quickly entered the kitchen and moved to the fridge. She opened it up and shuddered as the wave of cold air hit her face.

She took a moment to look over what was there, before pulling out the carton of milk and setting in on the counter. She grabbed a cup from the cupboard and poured herself a glass before taking out two slices of bread and placing them in the toaster. Leaning back against the counter, she closed her eyes again as she slowly sipped at her milk.

The nightmare that she had, it was one she was used to. For several weeks after the crash she was barely able to sleep, the nightmares and memories of the accident refused to stop haunting her. As the years went by since the accident, eventually they began going away. She still occasionally had them, most of the time during the week of the accident, but they didn't cling to her like they did when she was younger.

She was tired of them, so tired of them. She had accepted what had happened. Her Father died instantly, her Mother was knocked unconscious and bled out quickly but didn't suffer. Somehow she had managed to get out with nothing lethal. Her leg was badly wounded from a piece of metal that was stuck in it, but otherwise she only had cuts and bruises.

Were it not for another car on the other side of the road, she wouldn't have survived. The man who saw the crash called an ambulance and quickly investigated. According to the old newspapers she found dating back to that day, the man was an off duty emergency medical technician and was able to perform first aid which kept her from losing blood. Her parents could not be saved sadly, and the driver of the truck that they had crashed into did not survive either.

After the accident, a close friend of the family moved in with her and helped her because she was so young. Mami was unable to do almost anything for the first week out of the hospital. The survivor's guilt bore down on her mind and kept her locked in her room curled in her blankets, begging and pleading anything that would listen to give her Mother and Father back. Each night would consist of either a nightmare about the accident, or a dream where they survived that would quickly turn into another nightmare. It took several weeks before the memories stopped haunting her, and several months before she could spend a night without any nightmares

"Mami?"

Mami opened her eyes. Did she just hear something? Maybe it was her toast signaling it was ready.

"Mami?"

It wasn't the toast; it was a voice. Mami turned around to see who was in the room with her. It was her new mother Junko Kaname.

"Good morn- err… Good evening Mother." Mami gave a small smile. Why would her mother be up so late? She had work in the morning and being up at almost one in the morning wasn't a smart idea for someone who needed to get up early.

"I keep telling you Mami, you don't need to be so formal with me." Junko was wearing a bathrobe. Mami didn't know what she had underneath as the dim lighting in the kitchen blended with the dark robe. She must have woken up and come down for something.

"I know. It is simply who I am to treat others with respect."

Junko shook her head. "Respect and formality are two different things. You can be informal and rude, but still respectful, just like how you can be formal but disrespectful."

Mami was silent. She was slightly worried. Had she made too much noise and woke her mother up? Maybe instead Junko had come down for the same reason she had, a late night snack. A ding stopped her before she could continue her thoughts.

"Getting some food?" Junko's question felt more rhetorical, but Mami still responded with a nod.

Her toast was slightly brown, not quite fully toasted, but Mami preferred it that way. The crunch wasn't quite as enjoyable without a cup of tea, but she didn't want to take the time to make any . She took the toast and began to chew on it as she sat down at the table.

"What's wrong?"

Mami slightly jumped at Junko's voice. She hurriedly swallowed her food before responding.

"Nothing is wrong, I just wanted something to eat."

Junko's eyes narrowed but her smile was still there.

"Mami, that won't work on me. I can tell something is bothering you."

Mami sighed. Her father, Tomohisa, was the type of person to simply let things slide if she didn't want to talk about them, but Junko could always find a way. No matter what, Junko would always crack her open and make her talk. It was nice to be able to talk with someone about her problems, but she feared she would be overburdening them with her worries.

"It's… Well… It's…" Mami wasn't sure how to start. She didn't want to appear childish by saying she had a nightmare, but she felt like talking would help her get over the recent nightmare.

"Let me guess." Junko put a hand to her chin. "Was it… what happened to your parents?"

"How…" Mami was stunned. Junko had gotten it exactly right, despite there being no clues to point at that. Mami lowered her head and submitted. "Y-Yes… I had another ni-… dream about it."

"Do you want to talk about it? You have never really done so before. It might help, just talking to someone about it. Either way it wouldn't hurt." Junko's voice was soft and kind. It was filled with a lovingly warmth that only family could have.

She only got silence as a response. Junko gave a soft sigh. "It's ok if you don't, just know that I am here if you wan- "

"I am past it now." Junko was interrupted midsentence by Mami. "The accident I mean. I accept that my Mother and Father died in the crash. I have accepted that I could not have done anything to save them. I know nothing I can do will bring them back. But still…" Her voice grew silent for a few moments.

"It… hurts. When I dream about them; when I think about them; when I cook the meals they liked, my heart hurts so bad. It feels as though it is being crushed and I hate it. Even when I think of the times they scolded me for doing something bad, it still hurts. I… I want them back, even for just a moment. Even if that moment is just for them to yell at me. I want to hear their voice, see their faces." Mami's voice was shaking. Her back shuddered and her eyes began watering as she kept speaking.

"I want to see them again. I want to run home from school and show them my grades and hear them praise me. I want to scold them for burning dinner and then cook for them instead. I want to relax with them on a day off, and talk about meaningless things long past our bedtimes. I want to yell at my Father for all his bad jokes and tease my Mother for her overly massive film collection"

Tears had begun to stream down her face. Were she not sitting down, her legs would have likely buckled and she would have collapsed to the ground. Mami fell onto the table and sunk her face into her arms as she kept crying.

"I-I… I w-want my Mom and Dad back!"

Junko listened silently to Mami's rant, watching her fall apart as it went on. She got up from her chair and moved around over to Mami's side and sat next to her. Wrapping an arm around the sobbing girl, Junko pulled her tight and began to stroke her back, softly shushing as she did so.

Mami shifted her arms so they were now clung around Junko's neck. She buried her face into Junko's chest as she kept crying. She kept trying to speak, but what she said was inaudible due to the sobbing and heavy breathing.

They stayed that way for several minutes. Mami clinging to her new mother as Junko rubbed her back to calm her down. Gradually her tears began to slow and her breathing was getting under control again. Soon the room fell silent, yet they stayed holding each other.

"How do you feel?" Junko broke the silence.

Mami's voice was faint and barely audible. "Better."

Junko gave a soft smile, even though Mami couldn't see it. "That is good to hear. Keeping things bottled up for a long time can be very bad. These type of situations need to happen sometimes, emotions you thought were gone but are really just stuck inside need to be let out or they can overflow at the worst times."

Junko knew that Mami was a strong girl, she had lived several years all by herself. However, Junko felt that the strong, reliable, older sister-like exterior that she showed was Mami's way of staying strong. After she had lost her parents, she suppressed the emotions she had and locked them away in order to move on. She pretended to stay strong, as if it never bothered her, so long that it became her actual personality. Yet deep down, those feelings she had suppressed were still there.

Part of that problem may have been that she had no one to talk with. She was raised to live by herself due to her parent's busy work schedule. After the accident she received help from a family friend for several years until she could truly live on her own, but a friend of her parents is different from a friend of her own. After she began to live alone again, she didn't have anyone. She isolated herself from classmates and did not have anyone she could speak with.

Somehow, Madoka had managed to break through to her, and convinced her to visit for dinner. Through the meal, Junko and Tomohisa had picked up on how lonely the girl really was, which lead to their decision to adopt her.

In the house, she did have her sisters, but she never made that special bond that they had. Kyouko and Sayaka always bickered and fought with each other, but they were closer than anyone. Homura and Madoka were similar, with how Homura followed Madoka around like a lost puppy. Mami however, had no one to share herself with.

Maybe they should find a way to fix that. Another adoption may be out the question, but it wasn't completely out either. A pet may be another idea. Some sort of affectionate animal, like a dog or a cat. Something that could keep her company.

Junko cleared her mind of those thoughts, right now she wanted to make sure Mami was feeling better. She leaned back slightly and looked at the young girl. Mami's eyes were red and trails of tears ran down her face. She looked dazed, like her mind wasn't quite there.

"Now then." Junko slowly pushed Mami away and wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. "Why don't you finish your snack and then let's get you to bed. In the morning you will feel better."

All she got in response was a nod. Mami began to chew on her toast as Junko watched. Junko sat there quietly with a small smile. On the inside however, she was fawning at what was in front of her.

Mami was acting like a little girl, quietly chewing her toast like a hamster would; it was extremely adorable. It reminded her of when Madoka was a little kid. Mami was always so mature; It was a rare sight to see her acting like a young child exhausted from a day of playing outside.

The two sat in silence as Mami finished her snack and drunk the milk. Junko got up and took the glass before Mami could, and tossed it in the sink before Mami could try and wash it.

"Someone can clean that in the morning, bed will come first."

Junko placed a hand on Mami's back and lead her upstairs to her room. Mami moved slowly and acted sluggish and somewhat unresponsive, something Junko expected after that emotional outburst. They reached Mami's room and went inside. Junko lead Mami over to her bed and quickly straightened out the rustled sheets. Pulling them back, Junko watched Mami crawl into bed.

She sat down on the edge of the bed and rested a hand on Mami's arm.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about tonight. It will be our little secret, ok?"

Mami nodded.

"Alright then." Junko gave her a comforting smile. "Get some sleep, sweet dreams." Junko got up and left the room.

Mami rolled over in bed. Her mind was racing, yet it wasn't. She was filled with so many different thoughts flashing through her mind, yet none of them were understandable. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on clearing her head. Soon she drifted off to sleep and had warm dreams of her new family.

The sun rose the next morning and the Kaname household went about their daily morning routine. Madoka rolled out of bed and prepared for class, Homura following close behind her but already prepared. Kyouko was waking up Tatsuya and getting him ready for his day. Sayaka was chatting with Tomohisa about the latest superhero movie released in the kitchen. Mami however, was missing.

She was still lying in bed. The emotional exhaustion from very early that morning had tired her out and she had only woken up recently. She moved out of bed and got dressed and went about preparing for the school-free day ahead. After setting her hair up in their usual drill-like twin-tails style, she went downstairs to greet her family.

Sayaka perked up when she saw Mami coming down the stairs.

"Hey Mami! Why were you still sleeping in? Usually you are already up before we are?"

Before Mami could respond, Junko, who was sitting at the table reading the newspaper answered.

"She was up late last night."

Tomohisa looked up from the breakfast he was making. "Really? Usually Mami is one of the first in bed. What kept her up so late?"

Mami's face paled slightly. She didn't want the events of that night to be revealed. When she opened her mouth to make an excuse, Junko cut in.

"That's a secret between us." Junko winked at Mami, who brightened up significantly when she heard her Mother come to her aid.

"Yes, it is a secret between us." Mami's voice was filled with a warm cheer. "Do not worry, nothing is wrong." She finished her sentence with a large smile.

Her mind and heart were still bogged down with the weight of the emotions suppressed for so many years, but they felt lighter. Much lighter than they had ever been, and Mami was glad. She may have lost her real parents in the accident, but her new family felt just as real as her old family.

* * *

I hope this came out well. I have never really understood emotions that well so I wonder if Mami's breakdown felt real and not too sudden. Still I hope you all enjoy it. though a quick question. A future chapter I have planned involves a low life thug. Would you prefer I censor all his swearing (F***, S*** ect.) or keep it uncensored but increase the rating of the story to T at max? Stayed tuned next time when Madoka does something that Homura doesn't enjoy at all!


	5. Trouble Making Furball

Sorry for the long break between chapters. I tried to write this out as a full chapter, around 3-4k words like I normally do, but that didn't work. I ended up cutting this chapter down to only about 1.7k words as it is less of a story chapter and more of an introduction chapter.

* * *

"Get back here you little!"

Homura's growling was beginning to bother Madoka. She was sitting at the living room table working on her homework. Sayaka was trying to do the same, but Kyouko kept bothering her and breaking her concentration. Mami, like the proper student she was, had already finished it and was in her room. Homura however, was busy dealing with a troublemaking brat.

Madoka was recently allowed to have a pet, something she was extremely happy about. She received it as a present for her birthday from her Mama and Papa. It was an adorable white cat with beautiful fur and a strange pattern on its back. After some time spent thinking on a name, she decided to go with Kyubey.

Currently he was attempting to escape the room, but whenever he got near the exit, Homura would suddenly appear in front of him and grab him. He would squirm out of her grasp and return to running around to avoid her.

Madoka had no idea what he did that made Homura so angry, but the two didn't like each other at all. From the moment he saw Homura, he hissed at her and refused to go near her. He kept causing trouble for Homura, which made Homura begin to dislike him in return.

Out of all the girls, Mami was the only one that could stop a fight between the two. Madoka didn't know why, but Kyubey took a liking to Mami very quickly and would spend most of his free time with her. When she enters the room, he would often stop whatever he was doing and leap onto her shoulders.

"Maybe one 'o us should go grab Mami…" Kyouko had stopped distracting Sayaka and had begun glaring at Homura and Kyubey. "I can't focus here with them making all that racket."

Sayaka smacking Kyouko with her pencil. "I'm glad for them then, that way I can actually focus on this work. If I don't get my grade up before the end of the quarter, Mom and Dad will kill me."

"Sayaka, you wouldn't need to worry about that if you payed attention in class a little more." Madoka tried to intervene, but she quieted down when she received a blank stare in return.

Suddenly a pillow flew through the air and smacked right into Kyouko knocking her over. She quickly jumped to her feet and turned to face Homura, who had backed Kyubey into a corner and was preparing to throw another pillow at him.

"HOMURA!" Kyouko screamed at Homura. "THAT'S IT!" Kyouko made a dash for Homura, grabbing another pillow as she ran and began attempting to smack her with it.

Madoka sighed. She loved her new cat, but she didn't expect this when she got him…

* * *

It was 3 weeks before Madoka's birthday. The girls began attempting to subtly work any requests she had out of Madoka. Tomohisa and Junko however, were able to simply ask for a wish list. They looked over the list and began to work through what they thought would be nice.

Despite Madoka being their daughter, they were unsure of what exactly to get her, so they teamed up with Madoka's sisters. They split the acceptable items on the list into portions that each girl would take care of.

Mami was going to focus on the clothing that Madoka asked for. Sayaka and Kyouko worked together to get her more of the manga series she enjoyed. Homura decided to locate a good IGem for Madoka to listen to music with, it had been a wish of hers for a while. Junko and Tomohisa took the largest part of the list, a cat.

Madoka had requested a cat, if she would be allowed one. She wanted one that was white and had a pretty pattern. It had taken them a while to find one like what she requested. They finally located one in a pet store that was fairly cheap compared to the other pets in the store.

The owner said that he was an unusual cat, as many of the families that took him in wanted to return him shortly after purchasing it. They claimed he caused problems and was unfriendly and cold to them. Junko thought over the reviews that they had heard, and weighed them against how he acted inside the store and with the girls. Shortly after they purchased him and had the store keep him until Madoka's birthday.

The girls were introduced to him over time, so that Madoka would not get suspicious of them all leaving without her for a while. Kyouko liked the cat, as did Sayaka, though not quite as much. Mami adored him, and he loved her in return. The two bonded very quickly and Junko suspected that the cat may spend more time with Mami, than he would with Madoka.

Homura's encounter however, was very different. From the moment she laid eyes on the creature she knew something wasn't right. Sitting there with beady eyes and a clear white coat of fur, it was almost too cute. The displeasure was not one sided either. With the girls, he had jumped onto them and introduced himself happily. With Homura, he began hissing and swiping at her. By the time they had left Homura had already applied bandages to multiple cuts on her hands.

The days went flying past, and soon enough Madoka's birthday arrived. Tomohisa spent the day preparing for their party, and Junko assisted him once was able to get off work. Mami and Homura flew home from school to make sure everything was ready, while Sayaka and Kyouko took their time to slow down Madoka's trip home.

The party went wonderfully, with everyone having a great time. Madoka loved all of the presents she was given, especially the IGem. Once the party had ended and they had begun to settle down, Tomohisa and Junko took out their final gift.

Madoka was ecstatic when she saw that they had gotten her a cat. She really wanted one, but didn't expect them to actually get one for her. She ran towards her parents and gave them a massive hug before she began to examine the cat.

It was almost exactly what she wanted. Cute, small, pretty and nice all in one package. She couldn't come up with any name for him though. She kept trying to decide on a good name but her mind kept going blank. Eventually she came up with the name Kyubey due to a comment from Mami on how much of a "cutie" he was. The name was silly, but Madoka liked it.

* * *

Mami's voice broke Madoka from her reminiscing.

"Another fight Homura? If you treated him a little better, he may not be so aggressive towards you."

Mami had come downstairs into the room. Her hair was down from its usual twin tail drill style and was hanging straight down as water dripped from it.

"You both caused so much noise, I could hear it from the shower." Mami moved past Homura and bent down to pick Kyubey up. He immediately began to snuggle into her chest before looking over towards Homura with a victorious expression on his face.

"Mami. Give that… thing… to me." Homura's voice was stale. There was no emotion in it at all, but at the same time it made a shudder go down everyone's backs.

"First o' all. What did he do to piss ya off so bad?" Kyouko had unlatched herself from Sayaka and had begun to chew on a box of pocky. "Even if he clawed up my clothes, I doubt I could get as mad as you seem to be."

Homura's glare turned to Kyouko. "He spit a hairball on my laptop and it seeped into the keyboard, he vomited on my floor, and he destroyed my notes from class." She looked back at Mami. "Give him to me."

Her sentence ended off there, but Mami could feel an unspoken threat behind it. Her eyes narrowed as she held Kyubey closer to her. "Anything you do would be much crueler than he deserves. Leave his punishment to me."

"Normally, I would accept that. But not this time. Give. Him. To. Me." Homura's voice grew cold and her face stiffened, preparing to take him by force if need be."

Madoka was worried. Small fights between her sisters were common, but this felt like it would be bigger than normal. Should she step in? She didn't want anyone to fight. Before she could try anything Sayaka and Kyouko stood up.

"Hey Mami, got a question for ya." Kyouko began speaking while Sayaka slipped behind Mami.

"What is it Kyouko?"

"Spider, right there." She said pointing towards Mami's stomach.

Mami froze for a second, and in that single second Sayaka dashed forward and grabbed Kyubey from her arms. She quickly sprinted out of the room and up the stairs.

"Hehe, suckers. Fell for the plan." Kyouko laughed before sprinting after Sayaka.

Everyone was quiet afterwards as they stared at the hallway. It felt like an eternity before Homura spoke.

"I let it get away again…" Disappointment was heard in her voice.

"Now now Homura, why don't I help you clean up the mess in your room?" Mami attempted to calm Homura down, now the object of her wrath was gone.

Madoka watched as the two of them left to clean up the mess that was in her room. Kyubey caused a lot of problems for Homura, but Mami would always be able to somehow calm the fights down. This time Kyouko and Sayaka's aid was needed, but that is fairly rare.

She was really happy about her new cat though. While he was a troublemaker sometimes, she still loved him. An additional member in their family always made the house much warmer, something Madoka loved having.

She should probably finish her homework and then check Sayaka's to make sure she isn't doing too bad.

* * *

I don't like how short it is, but oh well. If I tried to force it to be long, it wouldn't come out well at all. Anyways, now Kyubey may appear in future chapters as the resident cat of the Kaname's. I might add in one other character if you all would like that. Keyword might though. It would depend on how well I can fit them into the story. I hope you enjoy the story, and stay tuned next time when the usually stoic and calm Homura panics over the one thing she was never familiar with.


	6. Birds, Bees, and Blood

Hello again. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, even if it was a challenge. I'm not the largest fan of Homura, so I hope I kept her as In Character as I could get her.

* * *

Homura sat on the couch, lazily flipping through the channels. There was nothing going on to distract her from her own boredom. All her homework was finished, she had projects on her laptop to work on, and her RC drone was at the shop being repaired, so she couldn't play with that either.

Sayaka and Kyouko had gone out a while ago to take Tatsuya out to the park. Mami was in her room working on an essay for her English class. She had been in there for several hours already. Despite her love of western culture, English was one of her weak points. As for Kyubey… She would never willingly spend time with that demonic cat, even if it brought about the end of the world. Maybe if Madoka asked though… Maybe…

Speaking of Madoka, she was in bed resting. She had come down with the flu several days ago. It had almost finished running it's course and she was recovering well, but she was still not feeling up to school just yet. While everyone was at school, Homura was taking care of her.

Normally her adoptive father, Tomohisa would be watching over Madoka, but Homura refused to let him for two reasons. He did enough by himself, So Homura wanted him to spend some time relaxing, and while she wasn't exactly sick, Homura wasn't feeling well either.

She felt nauseated and she had a bad headache that didn't go away no matter what she tried. Her limbs felt heavy, like she was a sponge dropped in a pool of water and the lower part of her stomach was hurting. Plus, her chest was hurting again. She was used to the chest pain. Her heart wasn't exactly the strongest after all, but the rest was new. She may have caught Madoka's flu while she was taking care of her.

She shifted her body and adjusted the pillows she was laying on. There was nothing interesting on the TV. Maybe she should grab her laptop and surf the internet for a while? There was bound to be something interesting there.

She got up off the couch and shut the TV off with the remote. Her back felt stiff so she took a moment to reach above herself and stretch. It felt nice, listening to her spine pop. The noise grossed Madoka and Sayaka, but she enjoyed the sound. The clean and crisp 'click' of air bubbles rushing out of the joint was very pleasing to her ears.

The nausea hit her again. Taking a moment to stabilize herself, she placed a hand on her stomach. She never had any stomach aches quite like this. She had to have come down with the flu like Madoka had. A few days off from classes would be nice, though the catching up once she returns wouldn't be enjoyable.

She left the living room and headed for the staircase. She moved upstairs and went into her room. Quickly searching her desk, she found her laptop. Unplugging it, she grabbed it along with a mouse and headed back downstairs. She would have spent some time in her room, but she wasn't on guard downstairs, Kyubey might try and pull something again. He was always looking to cause problems for her.

She went back into the living room and was about to sit back down on the couch when she noticed something.

Blood.

There was blood on the couch cushion.

Her eyes widened. Blood? She was the only one sitting there. No one else was sitting there at any point. There was no blood when she first sat down so… It came from her?

She placed her laptop down on the coffee table and began to check all over her body. Nothing on her arms, chest or head. She lifted her skirt up to check her legs and she noticed something. There was a small amount of blood splotches on her upper thighs.

There was almost none, but it was still there. She reached towards it and touched it. It was real blood. She was about to lift her skirt higher to see where it came from, but then she realized how open the room was to the outside. She shouldn't be undressing where anyone could look in and see

Shaking her head, she sprinted to the bathroom. Inside the restroom she pulled her skirt down and examined the blood. It was blotted all around her upper inner thigh and seemed to have been coming from her underwear. She pulled her underwear aside and looked. She saw where the blood was coming from.

She grabbed some toilet paper and mopped the blood up and cleaned the insides of any that may have gotten stuck. Looking at her underwear, there was a small bloodstain on it as well. She cringed slightly as she pulled them back up, along with her skirt. She suddenly could now feel the slight crust formed by the dried blood, it felt disgusting.

She left the restroom and went back upstairs to her room. She quickly threw off her skirt and her underwear and pulled a new pair out of her dresser. Right before she put them on, she realized she was bleeding again. It still wasn't very much, but this meant something was wrong. Did she somehow injure her insides?

She grabbed tissues from her desk and began mopping the blood up again. She swore that she had cleaned it all up the first time, so she had to be right. Somehow she injured the inside of her body.

Was this something she should tell her parents? It felt like it would be awkward bringing the subject up to them, but it wasn't something she could talk to her sisters about. Kyouko she didn't want to talk to, she was bound to make fun of her for doing something so stupid like injuring your insides. Sayaka would likely be the same. Madoka she would be willing to tell, but she was asleep at the moment. Mami might be able to help, but the embarrassment of showing Mami the bleeding would kill her before any internal bleeding would.

She sat on the floor of her room, completely naked from the waist down as she tried to think about what to do. She still had the contact info of one of the nurses that helped her during one of her visits to the ER. Maybe she should call him, ask him for some help and keep her family in the dark about it all.

Honestly for once, she had no idea what to do. Maybe she should just ignore it and let it go away with time? Perhaps that would be the best thing to do. It still scared her though. The most private location on her body, the part she was always told to keep protected, had suddenly begun to bleed.

She was interrupted by a knocking at the door.

"Homura?" Mami's voice called out from the other side. "I heard you making a lot of noise and talking to yourself. Is something wrong?"

Homura froze. She made too much noise and didn't notice. Her mother and father refurbished the attic into Mami's room. The folding staircase leading up to it was right outside Homura's door so Mami always heard any noise that came from her room.

"I-I'm fine." She tried to reassure Mami was nothing wrong, but her voice broke slightly before she could get it under control.

"That doesn't sound like you are fine." A sigh came from the door. "I'm coming in ok?"

Homura began to panic as the door creaked open. She flailed about trying to find her skirt and throw it on before Mami came in and saw her. She was too late.

"Homura?! What happened!?" Mami was shocked as the sight before her. She ran over to Homura and began to fly all over her, trying to figure out what was wrong.

Every time Homura tried to open her mouth, nothing came out. She couldn't make any excuses at this point, and while embarrassing, telling Mami would likely be the best thing she could do right now.

"I… I noticed that I was… bleeding. It was worried I did something to myself and was trying to clean it up. I… apologize, for interrupting your work."

Mami stared at her silently for several moments. The air grew stale due to the silence. Suddenly Mami began laughing. She tried to hide her mouth behind her hand but failed to do so.

"I'm sorry!" Mami leaned back as she kept laughing. "Oh my." She had finally managed to get her laughter under control. She stood up and shut the door before returning. "I'm sorry that I was laughing. It was just that… you are always so smart and knowledgeable; I didn't expect you to not know about this."

Homura was confused. "This? What do you mean?"

Mami took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. "You really don't know?"

Homura nodded in confirmation.

Mami sighed. "Let me explain then. You are beginning to reach an age where your body is growing into an adult. This bleeding is part of it. About once a month, girls around your age will begin to bleed from… down there. The official term is menstruation, but most people call it a period. A period is when your womb makes an egg, but the egg doesn't get fertilized and so it breaks apart and drips out of the body."

Homura listened to Mami's explanation. She felt like she heard other girls in school talking about this. She thought it was some type of new fad going around, not something that happened naturally. She had a question and was slightly worried how Mami would react to this one. "What is a womb?"

Mami stared at her, her mouth hanging wide open. "You don't know even that? Did your real parents ever give you the birds and the bees talk?"

"How are birds and bees involved in this?" Her mother rarely spoke to her with the intent of teaching, and her father had left when she was young.

Mami was blown back. The stoic, mysterious and almost infinitely knowing Homura, didn't know anything about sex? Even the basics?

"What about sex education in gym class?" Mami was a little worried at this point, this seemed like Homura was a little too ignorant to this type of thing.

"I never took gym class, until I was adopted here I was exempt from all heavy physical activity in school. When we had gym, I was allowed to stay in the library until it was over."

Mami took a deep breath and sighed. "All right then. Let me get you a pad to block the bleeding, and then get dressed and we will have a talk. I will explain everything to you."

Homura had no idea what this talk was about, but instincts made a shudder go down her spine.

Homura felt stupid. She was so embarrassed with herself. She had gone 14 years without ever learning these things despite how important they were to adult life.

Once she had dressed herself, Mami took her to her room and she began to explain what sex was. She told her about women's reproductive system, about the male anatomy, how babies were made and about the menstrual cycle. It was a lot to take in, but her mind managed to grip onto it very tightly and was working through the information in the back of her mind.

Mami had finished with her school work and they both were currently in the kitchen. Homura was sitting at the table with a cup of tea in front of her. Mami was over by the fridge taking out some strudel that she had left over from one of her bake sessions. She placed them onto two plates and set one before Homura and sat down with the other. She poured herself a cup of tea and took a sip from the cup before speaking.

"I didn't expect that from you Homura. You always seem to know everything before anyone asks." Mami took one of the strudels and began to eat it. "I enjoyed teaching you though. I really did feel like a big sister helping her younger sister."

She felt like she should say something. Anything to make the conversation feel less one sided. She hated two person conversations because she never felt like speaking, but a conversation had to have two people in it, not just one.

"I… Thank you, for telling me about all of that before something happened." Her voice was back to its normal fairly monotone style. She was glad Mami felt good, even if it cost her an awful amount of embarrassment. "I'm glad" She mumbled under her breath as she took a sip of tea.

"Did you say something Homura?"

"Nothing." Getting all mushy with someone else was still something she wasn't able to do. Mami was her older sister, even if they shared no blood, but getting emotions out was still hard. It would take time to relearn how to actively express herself.

"HEY! We're back!" The front door slammed open as she and Mami both winced at the sound of it slamming into the wall.

Kyouko and Sayaka came in through the hallway, Tatsuya riding on Kyouko's shoulders.

"Woo! Food! Got any more of that?" Kyouko immediately paid attention to the food, nothing new.

"I have a few more left, would you both like some? I think Tatsuya could have a little too if he wants."

"Yay! I wan Big Sis Mami's coogkig!" Tatsuya cheered enthusiastically at the thought of having some of Mami's cooking.

"Let me get some for you three then. Would you two like some tea too?" Mami asked as she rose out of her chair to go grab the last of the strudel.

"Nah, tea ruins the flavor." Of course Kyouko would turn down something that would decrease the amount of sweet flavor in food.

"I would like some, thanks!" Sayaka happily accepted as she sat down beside Homura.

Sayaka turned around to face her. "So what happened, you two seem closer than normal today." She gasped in an overly dramatic manner and she began whispering. "Maybe you… You aren't blood related after all. But I thought you liked Madoka not her, or maybe you are getting your skills u-"

Sayaka's sentence was cut off by a painful smack. Her head slammed into the table and bounced back only to be hit down again.

"The hell was that for?!" Sayaka gripped at her forehead where a red mark was growing.

"Blood related or not, she is my sister. That kind of thing is below me." It took all of Homura's power to avoid blushing.

She finally realized what exactly Sayaka's jokes meant when she said that type of thing. Before, she knew they annoyed Mami and flustered Madoka so she always tried to stop Sayaka from making them. Now that she knew what she meant, it was less to keep her from bothering Mami and instead was to silence her before Homura began blushing.

She drained the last of her tea down her throat before placing the cup back on the table. Homura didn't really feel like eating the pastry in front of her. Partially because, she was not too fond of western sweets, as well as the nausea from before was still limiting her appetite.

"Mami, I don't feel hungry right now. Sayaka can have my piece."

Mami looked at her and gave her a small smile and nod. She knew why Homura wasn't up to eating, and wouldn't say anything about it. "All right then, let me know if you feel like having something later."

Homura returned her nod before excusing herself from the room. If this was one of Sayaka's video games, she felt like there would be a "Lily rank up!" icon appearing right about now. She brushed those thoughts out of her head. Right now, she should check on Madoka.

Then after, she needed to spend some time on the internet. If it was different for every girl, then it would be best to learn what the worst and average types are. It didn't feel right being in the dark about something this important.

* * *

As you can likely tell, I don't see Homura as the super pervert the fandom does. I feel like she is on Madoka levels of sexual ignorance, but that is just me. Stay tuned for next time when Tatsuya wants a bedtime story, but Kyouko has run out of stories. So she makes one up that may or may not be based on her first meeting with Sayaka.


	7. Lonesome Mermaid

This chapter took a really long time to finish. I don't really know why... I think it may have been the start. I had several ideas to expand slightly on how Mami and Kyouko's relationship translated into this story to prepare for a future chapter, but I ended up scratching the idea completely as I realized it didn't really fit in. Well, that and the Steam Sale going on right now... Wallet please...

Anyways, despite Kyouko being the main character here, the chapter is actually more focused on Sayaka. Enjoy.

* * *

"Big sis Koko! I wana bed twime stowy!"

Kyouko looked down at Tatsuya. He had grabbed onto her shorts to stop her from leaving his bedside.

"I thought you already got one from Mami? You want another one?"

Tatsuya nodded intensely. He crossed his arms and began to pout. It didn't look intimidating at all, it made him look adorable though. "I need stowy fwom Big sis Koko or I won't go to bed!"

Kyouko grinned when she heard Tatsuya speak. He was getting a little demanding of her now that Kyouko had been spending most of her time taking care of him. She didn't mind at all though, because it was nice to have a younger sibling whom she could fawn over whom she could fawn over. again.

"Righty then, ya want a story. Let me see what I got."

Kyouko moved over to the small bookshelf by his bedside and began to search through it for something she could read to him.

"What about this one? With the monkey and the crab?" Kyouko asked, holding up a book of a children's story about a mischievous monkey who was punished for tricking and hurting a crab.

"Nuh uh. You wed dat one. I want a new won." Tatsuya protested against hearing a story he had already heard.

Kyouko turned back to the bookshelf and kept looking. There were several stories and she wasn't really sure which ones she had or hadn't read already. Grandfather Cherry Blossom, the Bamboo Princess, Urashima and the Underwater kingdom, she had pretty much memorized all of them due to both reading them to Tatsuya, and while she would never admit it openly, a love of them herself.

Kyouko had always loved fairy tales, both native and foreign ones. She felt it was unlike her to enjoy such sappy stories, but she couldn't help but love them. She liked to imagine herself in a world where she was the hero saving the damsel in distress, and she would rather die before admitting this, but a few times she imagined worlds where she got saved instead.

"Hmmm… I don't think we have any here I haven't already told ya." Kyouko was trying to think of any that she read when she was younger, one that she hadn't told to Tatsuya already.

"Cwan you make a stowy up? I wanna hewr a stowy dat you made!" Tatsuya excitedly suggested that Kyouko make one up herself.

Kyouko froze when she heard the suggestion. She loved fairy tales, but she wasn't really that good at making them herself. She wasn't the most imaginative person, so coming up with things on her own was never easy.

She began to think, trying to come up with an idea that she could use. The best way she could think to do it, was to come up with something to base the story on and, then figure out characters and maybe make it up once she gotgets into the flow of it.

She was silent for several moments as she thought of a story. Nothing was coming to her, and she was beginning to fret over how long she was taking to start. Tatsuya wasmight be getting bored, and she didn't want to disappoint him.

She looked up and began to search the room, looking for something to help her get started. Her eyes darted from object to object in search of something that could help her find inspiration. As she looked about the room, a picture by the doorway caught her attention.

It was of their family, before Homura joined in though. It was of Tatsuya sitting down, and behind him was Madoka wearing a large smile. To her left was Sayaka who had an arm around Madoka. Mami was behind the two of them, and then far off to the right she was standing by herselfwas herself. Homura wasn't in it, as she was the most recent to be adopted by the Kanames.

She looked at herself in the photo. Her hair was shorter than it was now, and she was much skinnier. You could see the faint outlines of her bones poking through her shirt. She still had on that blue jacket from her homeless days. She never felt safe without it, so she refused to throw it out and had the tears repaired instead. She didn't remember when the photo was taken, but it must have been not too long after she was taken off the streets and brought in.

As she looked at herself, her face grew sullen. It must have been taken really soon after she joined. In the photo, she looked grey, for lack of a better term. Her face was stiff, and while she was smiling slightly, it didn't feel like it was an honest smile.

It took her a long time to adjust to her new life. Every day she woke up to the same general thought. "When is this going to be taken from me?" She never wanted to turn into that kind of person, but with the twisted sense of humor God seemed to have , she ended up becoming what she hated. It may have not been God's fault, maybe it was just really bad luck, or maybe it was one of those tests of faith her pop always mentioned. Either way, whether it was family, friends, or material things, she always lost everything.

Her gaze drifted to Sayaka. The two of them were inseparable now, but back then they weren't very close. Sayaka stayed close to her, probably because of what Kyouko did to save her, and it was her constant attention that helped Kyouko break down the barriers she had placed and allowed her to open up in the end.

That was it. Her saving Sayaka!

That's what her story for Tatsuya could be!

She spun around on the bed and faced Tatsuya with a grin. "Alright buddy, I got a story for ya."

Tatsuya perked up and began to listen intently.

Kyouko would have to change some things, she didn't want it to be sad because, it was a fairy tale after all. Also,Plus how that night unfolded specifically was their secret, something not to be shared with others. Taking a deep breath, she began.

"Once upon a time, there was a poor fisherman. She went out every day hoping to catch some fish to sell for money and for dinner, but she never had any luck. She rarely caught any fish because she didn't have any good fishing gear, but that didn't stop her from trying. She He went out in any weather, rain and storm, trying to catch fish.

One day, she went out late at night so there wouldn't be any other boats taking the fish. ShHe found a nice spot and threw out heris line to wait. She waited, and waited and waited, but nothing bit on the line. She was getting sad because no fish were coming to her, so she began to pack up to go back home and sleep. But then, she heard someone calling for help.

She couldn't find where the noise was coming from. There weren't any boats in the area, but that was when she realized that the. The voice was coming from the water!

She looked over the side of the boat. Maybe someone had fallen into the water and was drowning? She saw under the water, there was a girl, who and she was being attacked by sharks!

She grabbed the spear she carried with her to keep her safe from sea monsters and then dove ived into the water. She swam down to the girl who needed help and began to fight the sharks. She swiped and thrust ed her spear at the sharks and they got scared of her and swamran off.

She grabbed the girl and swam back up to the surface and got back onto her boat. Then she noticed something. The girl wasn't a human. She didn't have any legs, instead she had a fish tail instead. The girl , was a mermaid!

The fisherman was surprised. She had never seen a mermaid before, and now she had just saved one from being eaten by sharks!

The mermaid sat up in the boat and said "Thank you kind fisherman. If you didn't save me, the sharks would have had me for a snack! I am the princess of the mermaids, so I can repay you with anything you want!"

The fisherman thought about how she wanted to be repaid by the mermaid princess. "If you want to repay me, then can you let me have food, so I don't ever go hungry again?"

"Of course! Is there anything else?"

"Can you give me a nice place to live, so the rain doesn't leak through the roof, and bugs don't crawl into my bed every night?"

"Of course! Would you like anything else?"

"I'm very lonely, I don't have any one to talk to. Could you be my friend?"

"I can do even better!" The mermaid princess said.

Then the mermaid princess cast ed a magical spell. Suddenly, the fisherman's feet vanished and turned into a fish tail.

"Now you can come home and live in the ocean palace with me and the royal family!"

The fisherman was very happy. She wouldn't ever have to be hungry, she wouldn't have to worry about a nice place to sleep, and now she had a friend. It was everything she had wanted.

So the fisherman and the Mermaid princess went into the ocean and swam back to ocean palace, were they had lots of fun and lived happily ever after."

Kyouko lingered in a post-story telling daze for several seconds, and was finally snapped out of it by clapping from Tatsuya.

"Dat was good!"

Kyouko grinned. "Was it? Gotta say, not too bad for my first story."

She glanced over towards the clock. The indicator read 8:48PM. Kyouko suppressed a sigh. She never liked putting Tatsuya to bed this early, but parents are parents and she has to listen to them.

"Sorry buddy, but now ya gotta get to sleep alright? We can chat more in the 'morning."

Tatsuya looked disappointed at knowing he wouldn't be able to spend more time with his sister, but as it was his sister he reluctantly accepted. He laid down in his bed as Kyouko pulled his covers over him. She ruffled his hair before saying goodnight and slipped out of the room , shutting the lights off as she went.

She leaned against the doorway and sighed again. Now that the energy from creating on a story had faded away, her mind was still on the topic of that night, but now that she no longer was telling the story the bad feelings that lingered from that night were returning. had the positive light shining on it.

"It really feels like forever ago, not a few years…"

"Is that story really how you saw it?"

Kyouko jumped and turned to face to location of the sudden voice. Sayaka was standing there in her pajamas.

"Sorry, didn't mean to listen in or anything, but it caught my attention when I heard some of it."

"Isn't that the same as listening in?"

Sayaka stifled a laugh. "Yeah, I guess it kinda is."

The two looked at each other for a few moments in silence. The air suddenly grew heavy, and both knew the reason why despite not a word of it being uttered. In Hoping tohopes to get the conversation flowing again, Sayaka began speaking.

"A mermaid? Is that how you saw me?"

"Kind of now, I guess. They always had those tragic love stories, and I mean you have that whole one -sided crush thing going on with what's his na-"

Suddenly Sayaka's hands were clamped over Kyouko's mouth.

"No! Don't say a single word more! I'm sure he likes me too!"

Pulling her hands away from her mouth, Kyouko responded, "If that's what ya say, he still seems to look at that green haired girl more than you… Still, I didn't want to make it too real, he wanted a fairy tale. Those got sappy good endings, not bad ones."

"I guess, but the after story turned out pretty good, didn't it?"

"True…"

The silent heavy atmosphere returned. It felt awkward and was almost suffocated both girls. It bothered Kyouko, so she tried to force the conversation to start again.

"How're ya holding u- No wait that's a dumb question. Losing family ain't an easy thing to get over."

"I guess." Sayaka shuffled in place nervously.

"Wanna talk or anything?"

"I… I guess? I don't really know. I kind of want to, but I also don't want to."

Kyouko moved over to Sayaka's side and pulled her down to a sitting position.

"I think I kinda get whatcha mean. After my pop w- After, everything with my family, I wanted to tell everyone, even if I didn't have anyone to tell. Don't know why, but I really wanted to. At the same time, I never wanted to talk about it. If I talked about it, I felt like something bad was gonna happen."

"Yeah…"

"Bad as it was though, that night I let me metet you. Gotta say that is worth something, maybe not your parents, but still…"

The awkward silence from before returned. The two sat there in the hallway trying to keep the conversation going. Both felt like they had to keep talking, but neither knew how to do so.

"It was kinda funny, what you did. Seeing this tiny girl run up to and tackle this huge guy to the ground. I still have no idea how you did that."

Kyouko chuckled. "He wasn't nearly as big as you think. AlsoPlus, all he had going for him was the gun. A lot of those types find a gun and rely on it, so they don't actually have any real fighting ability themselves."

"Watching you take him down was pretty cool. Running out from the shadows and jumping on him like you did."

"You need to be agile if ya want to live on the streets. Not that I wanted to live there. I still wasn't fast enough though…, maybe if I had started running a little sooner, then I could've saved your pa-"

"Stop." Sayaka's voice suddenly became serious, more so than she had ever done before. "I know, I really wish they were still around, but we can't change the past no matter how much we want to. It isn't like wishes are real after all." Letting out a sigh, Sayaka looked to the ground. Her voice grew somber. "The only other solution is to do our best to move on and not regret how things happened."

Kyouko broke a small grin. The conversation seemed to be nearing its end, and she had enough of the serious atmosphere. "Ain't I supposed to be the big sis here? You're acting like you're the older of us."

"I only let you be the older sister." Sayaka responded with a sharp nudge to Kyouko's side.

Kyouko lets out a laugh as she returneds the nudge. "Think you can be a better big sis than me? Day you do that is the day I toss food in the trash."

"I better go get the garbage can ready then." Placing her hand on Kyouko's head, Sayaka pushed herself to her feet. "Anyways, now that Tatsuya's in bed, want to go do something? I say we go steal Homura's computer and try to find out what she does on it all day."

Grabbing onto Sayaka's arm, Kyouko pulleds herself up. "Ya know, if we get caught, we are gonna have a bad storm heading our way?"

"I didn't take you for a chicken. AND , that is only if we get caught."

"Never said I didn't want to! If we do get caught, I'm blaming you."

"Likewise."

A sly grin grew across both girls' faces as they began to plan out how to take Homura's laptop from her.

* * *

This was an interesting chapter to write. I have always loved the idea of Kyouko secretly being a super sappy fairy tale lover, even more so than she appears to be in the anime. Then with Oktavia's design, I couldn't help but have her come up with something about mermaids. I wanted to try and fit Ophellia in there so I would have both witch Sayaka and Witch Kyouko, but I couldn't add her in anywhere. I might use Ophellia in a future chapter though. Anyways I hope you enjoyed. Stay tuned next time when Madoka and Mami spend some time together in the kitchen.


	8. Sugary Suprise

Hello again. It's been a while... I got hit with a nasty bout of writers block, but I seem to have gotten over it. Anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter, is was rather challenging to write due to the writer's block so I hope it ended up ok. 

* * *

Madoka was very stressed. Well, stressed would be an overstatement, but she was very worried. Valentine's day was approaching, and while she didn't have anyone specifically she wanted to give sweets to she still wanted to give sweets to as many people as she could.

She had done this for as long as she could remember. When February came around, she would begin to work on making chocolates or other sweets for her whole class, as well as specially made ones for her friends. She always tried to make it clear that she was handing sweets out to everyone because she wanted be nice and have everyone receive at least something. However, there still were a few times when someone didn't realize that and took the sweets in a different way.

It was already the 13th, and one day remained until Valentine's Day, yet she still hadn't even begun to find out what types of sweets her classmates liked. Her kind and warm, if shy, personality helped her to become friends with nearly everyone in any class. Madoka wouldn't consider herself a good friend with everyone, but she liked to think she at least knew everyone in the class somewhat well.

However, when she became busy due to a combination of school- work and chores around the house, the days began to fly by and suddenly it was February 13th. Madoka was worried that she would not have the time to both learn about the likes and dislikes of her classmates and to also bake them all sweets. These sweets must be hand baked, because store bought sweets don't carry as much emotions in them as homemade ones did.

Madoka approached the front door of her house and sighed. Maybe it would be best if she just made something that people would generally enjoy, like a cake. She didn't like that she was giving up on trying her best, but she was too tired from her classes to think of any better ideas that didn't involve store bought candy.

She opened the door and entered her house. "I'm home," she called out as she removed her shoes. She had to stay behind at school to help out a teacher, so the rest of her adoptive sisters had already gotten home, indicated by Mami's neatly placed shoes, and Kyouko and Sayaka's sloppily thrown shoes. Her Papa and Homura's seemed to be missing, so they must have gone out on an errand.

"Welcome home Madoka." Madoka turned to see Mami coming down the hallway from the kitchen. "I hope everything went well at school?"

"Yeah, it wasn't that bad. Someone snuck into the art room and drew with crayons all over the walls, so Nakazawa and I and to stay behind to help Miss Saotome clean it up."

Mami sighed heavily. "On the TV, all sorts of odd people doing unusual things have been showing up. I hope the police don't have trouble catching them. Anyway I hope I haven't ruined the mood because I have a favor to ask. If you are willing to help, I would like to ask you keep it a secret."

A secret? Madoka's curiosity was piqued. "I can help, what is it?"

Mami sighed once again, this time happily. "Thank you so much Madoka. I was planning on baking the other girls a cake as a Valentine's Day gift, however I wanted to try and use a new recipe,which may make them suspect what I am doing. Would you be willing to help me, and should they ask, say that I am teaching you?"

The coincidence was almost too perfect. She wanted to bake something but needed help, and Mami wanted to bake something but wanted help. Fate, Karma, God or whatever higher power exists in the world must be smiling at her. "Alright, I'll help you Mami."

"Thank you again Madoka. This would likely be more fun if you helped me out as well. Is now a good time? I know you have just gotten home."

Madoka paused for a moment. She was quite tired from her classes and the cleaning she stayed behind for, but there wasn't much time left until the 14th. "It's ok now. Let me put my bag away and change out of my school uniform."

Receiving a nod from Mami, Madoka ran past her through the kitchen and up the stairs to her own room. Tossing her school bag onto her desk, she threw off her school uniform and pulled on a set of casual clothing.

As she began walking down the hallway outside her room, she undid the ribbons in her hair. Her hair wasn't long by any standard, but her short twin tails may get in the way and she didn't want to be distracted. She put one ribbon into her pocket before using the other to tie her hair back into a ponytail.

She finished tying the knot as she reached the bottom of the stairs. She tried to hide her growing excitement at the thought of being able to help Mami make some of her famous cooking. However, her rapid decent down the stairs and her jumping down the last few steps betrayed that excitement.

Reaching the kitchen at the bottom, Madoka turned to find Mami preparing several bowls, measuring cups and ingredients.

"Madoka!" Mami called out to the pinkette as soon as she entered her peripheral vision. She took a quick look at Madoka before double taking. She put down the bag of sugar and attempted to stifle her laughter.

Madoka tilted her head in confusion. What was so funny? Did she put her shirt on backwards? She glanced down at herself to check. Her shirt was on correctly; she didn't forget to put her skirt on either. "What are you laughing at Mami?" she finally asked.

"Oh don't mind me. You just look very cute Madoka, your hair I mean. You never put it up like that, but it looks good on you." Mami replied after she finally got her chuckling down.

Madoka blushed at the compliment. She began fidgeting as she tried to put together thanks. "Uh… Umm, thanks Mami. I just thought it might get in the way if I kept it like I usually do it. I haven't really cooked anything other than chocolates before, I figured a cake would be a little messier."

"You are correct. With cakes you deal with more ingredients so more of a mess can get everywhere. Now, I have gotten everything ready here. Step over so we can start." Mami took a step to the side, inviting Madoka over beside her.

Mami's eyes suddenly grew wide as she lightly gasped. "Oh! First, please one moment." She said quickly before dashing to the entrance to the kitchen and looking outside for any of their family members. Finding none, she turned to Madoka and began to speak. "If someone does come in here, I will try to keep them from getting to close and we will pass this off as me teaching you to bake right?"

Madoka gave a small nod in return.

"Splendid! Now, let me grab the aprons, I don't want our clothes to get dirty after all." Mami said as she took two aprons that were hanging off a hook near the fridge. One was grey with a long black serpent covered in white, yellow, red and blue spots excitedly devouring a cheesecake. The other was a black apron with two white silhouettes on it bowing to a third between them, the one in the center having wings and holding a frying pan in one hand and a spatula in the other with a ring of food floating behind it, below the three figures read "Your goddess has arrived".

Mami handed the second apron over to Madoka as she put the first on herself. Easily tying the apron with long obtained practice, Mami moved over to Madoka to help her tie hers properly.

The two sisters nodded to each other as Mami began to explain the first steps of baking.

"Yo, ya got food over there. Gimme some."

Before they could begin however, Kyouko entered the kitchen demanding food.

Mami moved around the counter top to block Kyouko from getting closer, as she was bound to cause a mess with the ingredients before they could even start mixing them.

"Ah Kyouko, please don't come over here. I don't want yo- I would rather keep this area to just us two." She almost told Kyouko to not cause a mess, however she managed to catch her words in time and phrase them more politely. "Tell me what you would like and I can get it for you."

Kyouko's eyes narrowed as she stared at Mami. "I'd rather get it myself, but thanks for offerin'"

The air grew heavy between the blonde and redhead. Madoka wasn't sure what happened between them, but occasionally when either was in a bad mood they tended to get in fights. Based on her observations, Kyouko must be irritable today.

"Where you not asking just a moment ago to give you food, instead of getting it yourself." Mami somehow managed to make a sentence that normally would sound rude instead sound kind. Likely hoping not to ruin the baking session between her and Madoka, she relented and allowed Kyouko to pass by her to the fridge. "Fine, just please don't touch anything on any of the counters. Madoka and I are busy."

The atmosphere lightened at Mami's withdrawal. Kyouko marched past her to the fridge and rummaged around inside for a snack before grabbing several apples and walking off silently.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Mami turned to Madoka with a smile. "Let us begin then. For our sisters, none of them dislike vanilla, so let's bake a Vanilla Pound Cake." Mami paused and smiled at the unintentional rhyme. "It is very delicious, and it would be perfect for a meal with tea. I don't know too much about your classmates, but the first batch won't turn out that perfect, but a simple Chocolate cake is easy enough to make, and I don't know anyone who doesn't dislike chocolate."

Madoka gave a nod in return, and then the two girls went about preparing to make a chocolate cake first. Deciding to not waste much on the trial run, they got out a small pan, only large enough to make a cake that would be only slightly larger than a large cupcake.

Setting the oven to three hundred fifty degrees, they began the process of baking. Mixing vanilla, flour, and butter together, Mami began to mix the bowl as she instructed Madoka on what to do. Madoka went about mixing baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder and flour together. After adding sugar to her mix, Mami had Madoka dumped the contents of her bowl into Mami's.

Mami gave the bowl to Madoka to beat, and then gathered milk and slightly more sugar. She slowly added the two extra ingredients into Madoka's bowl as she beat it. Madoka's arms began to grow sore, so they traded positions and Mami took the job of beating the mix until it was smoother. Once finished, they poured it into a pan and placed it in the preheated oven to bake.

Mami paused for a moment and put a hand to her chin. "I don't exactly know how to make frosting, we do have everything we need, I think. Madoka, do you think Homura would mind if we borrowed her laptop for a short while to find a recipe for chocolate frosting?"

Madoka shook her head. "I think Homura wouldn't mind if we borrowed it for a little bit."

Mami's face lit up. Clapping her hands together happily she asked "Let me go grab it then, keep an eye on the kitchen for me please?" before running up the stairs to Homura's room.

Madoka sat down at the kitchen table as she waited. She was really excited to be baking cakes with Mami. Her large family only had two real cooks in the house. Her Papa Tomohisa, and Mami. No one could stand up to either of them when it came to preparing meals. Her Papa was much better at making more traditional meals, especially Japanese cuisine. Mami on the other hand, was more skilled at baking and foreign foods.

Her train of thought was interrupted as Mami came down the stairs, carefully holding Homura's laptop under her arm. She placed it on the table and opened the lid up and prepared to search for a recipe. However, she was blocked by one simple gate, the lock screen.

"I didn't even think of this. What could her password be." Both Mami and Madoka were stumped. Neither knew what kind of password Homura would use for her laptop. "Let's see. Madoka, you know her the best, what kinds of things does she like? Maybe one might be a password."

Madoka looked down as she tried to think. She wasn't really comfortable doing this because it felt like she was breaking in without permission. "Um… Do you think we could just ask her? I could send her a text message."

"That might be best, then we could also let her know we borrowed it." Mami replied with a nod.

"No need. It's really simple if you think about it."

Both girls jumped at the sound of a third voice behind them.

"Give it here." Sayaka leaned over Madoka and began to type on the laptop. She began to sound out as she typed her idea of the password in. "Go do ka. Godoka. See?" With a press of the enter button, there was a small chime before the screen went away and the desktop loaded up. "You both are really thick if you can't tell what her favorite thing is."

"Godoka? I don't know what that is, it sounds kind of like my name though."

Sayaka deadpanned at Madoka's comment. "Okay… You are really thick. Please tell me you noticed it Mami?"

"I'm sorry Sayaka, I don't know what you are talking about."

Slamming the palm of her hand into her face, Sayaka groaned. "Honestly, I'm the youngest here and I still notice it easier than you two!"

"What do you mean Sayaka?" Madoka asked with a tilt of her head.

"Gah, it's nothing. Maybe one day you will find out what she really likes most." Sayaka stepped back and reached her arms over her head and let them dangle down her back. "So… what are you two doing with it?"

Mami spoke up. "We borrowed it to search a recipe up for chocolate frosting. I don't usually make chocolate cakes, so I don't really know and Madoka wanted to learn how to bake a chocolate cake."

A teasing grin grew on Sayaka's face as she moved extremely close to Madoka. "Oh? The day before that special day and you want to learn how to make chocolate? I just can't help but wonder what it might be for?" She said in an overly teasing tone.

"Sayaka!" Madoka chided. "I know how to make chocolate, I just wanted to learn how to make a cake!"

The grin never left Sayaka's face. "If that's what you say! Make sure to save some for me and Kyouko, okay?" She began to walk off into another room, but she stopped before exiting. "Oh, two quick things. One, stay away from her images folder. Kyouko and I found what was in there, for the sake of your sanity, stay out of it."

Mami's brow creased in worry. "Why? What was in there?"

Sayaka went silent before speaking. "What the password is, lots of it. Way more than any sane person should ever have." Shaking her head, she got back to her original topic. "Two, better hurry up. Homura and Mr. Tomo- err I mean Dad are going to be getting home soon, so you better clean up the kitchen so he can make dinner."

The two girls watched as Sayaka attempted to hide her blush from her slip up. Despite having lived as part of their family for a while already, Sayaka was the only one who sometimes slipped up and called Tomohisa and Junko by their names, rather than Mom and Dad like she usually did.

Their focus shifted back to the laptop. They loaded up the internet browser and quickly found a recipe for chocolate frosting. It was very simple, mix butter, chocolate, vanilla, sugar and milk together and then beat it until it becomes a fine paste.

"Madoka, if I leave you with the ingredients and I start cleaning the kitchen up, would that be alright?"

Madoka was slightly confused. This was the trial run to test her ability. They still had two other cakes to make. "Uh… Mami? What about the other ones we planned?"

"If Father is getting home soon and he wants to start preparing dinner, we will need to wait. After dinner we can bake the other two, or if you are willing we could get up earlier and bake them in the morning." Mami said with a smile.

Madoka understood now. She was too busy trying to figure out what Sayaka meant by "Godoka" to really pay attention to what she said so she missed what her Papa wanted. "Ok, we can do it tonight. I will make the frosting. And I'll make extra too, for when we make the other one."

The two girls then set about doing their tasks. Madoka took the ingredients and followed the recipe on Homura's laptop. Mami began to take the used tools and wash them in the sink before setting them aside to dry off. In little time, both girls had finished and all that was left was to wait until the cake was finished in the oven.

They finished their tasks right as the front door opened up. "Papa and Homura must be home" Madoka thought.

The duo entered into the kitchen in the middle of a conversation.

"The same one from the school?"

Tomohisa was carrying a few bags with various items inside meant for garden care. Homura walked beside him holding another bag with more items in it.

"Yes. She leaves a message behind each time. She seems to think the world is a play and is trying to make people realize it, how what she does relates to that, I don't understand. The police call her "Walpurgistnacht" since they can't figure her identity out. The name isn't even a real name either, it is a Germanic yearly event."

"That sounds like a villain from one of my old comic books. I hope she is caught soon, I don't want any more trouble in the cit- Oh hello Madoka, I didn't see you." Tomohisa finally took notice of Madoka by the fridge, placing a bag of frosting into it.

"Hello Papa, Homura. Mami and I were using the kitchen so we have something in the oven. Oh, Homura? I hope you don't mind but we borrowed your laptop to get a recipe. We didn't look at anything else though."

Homura tensed up when she heard her laptop was taken, however she began to relax once Madoka clarified that they hadn't looked at anything private on it. "How did you get the password?" She aksed with narrowed eyebrows.

"Sayaka helped us with that. She said that she and Kyouko had used it before."

Homura's face fell. She muttered something under her breath but all Madoka could make out was a "That's who" before Homura's voice got too quiet.

"Thank you for cleaning up after yourselves girls. Once I put these away." Tomohisa lifted the bags up. "I was planning to get started on dinner. Do you have any requests?"

Madoka straightened up hurriedly and opened her mouth to say something before pausing and becoming more shy. "Could you maybe make Cream Stew?"

Tomohisa laughed when he heard Madoka's request. "Your favorite? Why not? Does anyone want anything else?" He asked, looking at Homura and Mami.

Homura shook her head and Mami gave a quick, "That sounds fine."

"Alright then, let me drop these off in the shed and then I will get started." Tomohisa said as he took the other bag from Homura and left the room to place the materials in their garden's shed.

With their father out of the room, Homura turned to the two girls and asked, "What were you baking?"

Madoka and Mami both turned to each other and giggled. "It's a secret!" 

* * *

My original plan was to start in chapter 3 and slowly hint at what I am making the witches as in this AU, just regular criminals. I gave up and never dropped any more hints until this chapter. Anyways what I am saying is witches are criminals in this AU, and the shooter from chapter 3 was Walpurgisnacht. I may tease other witches in future chapters, but likely not considering they would distract my focus from writing the real story. Anyways, I hope it came out well. Stay tuned next time when Junko invites Homura out for lunch and they reminisce on their first meeting.


	9. Memories Over Meals

Hello everyone, sorry for the long delay between chapters. Things happened, I discovered Dark souls 3, Starcraft 2 Co-op and Sora no Woto. don't worry, it wasn't all spent wasting away, I do have a few other stories for different series either waiting for revision or almost finished. Anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter. Despite how little I like her, I really seem to enjoy writing Homura based chapters due to how much I can play with. 

* * *

Homura was confused. Junko, her adoptive mother, rarely took days off from work, and when she did she would always spend it relaxing at home with her family. However, for some reason she decided to forgo a lazy day of doing nothing and instead invited Homura out to lunch.

Three things stuck out to Homura. First, was the fact that Junko decided to not spend the day sleeping in. Second was that Junko invited her, but only her. Usually when Junko wanted to do something with her daughters, she wanted to do it with all of them. Lastly, was the specific restaurant she was invited to.

"So… how's school going?"

"It is fine."

A slightly less than awkward silence hung over the two as they waited for their food to come out. Homura had never been one for starting a conversation, her social skills revolved more around being a third party to bring new ideas into a conversation that was growing stale.

The silence was bothering her, even more so than usual due to the fact it was only the two of them. Homura opened her mouth to begin speaking, but froze as she did not have any idea of what to say. Finally, deciding on her question she hoped that Junko would be willing overlook what might be seen as rude.

"Why did you invite me to lunch today? Just me as well, not any of the others?"

Junko brought her drink away from her mouth. She spent a moment thinking over her response. "Well, it has been a while since we have just had some girl time. With how everyone is at home, and my work schedule, we haven't really had a chance to talk in a while, just the two of us."

She wasn't wrong. Due to finals coming up, Junko's work lately and the natural state of having five teenage girls in one house had made it difficult to get much time with just one other person..

"Why here though?"

Homura's question was curt and to the point. The restaurant they were at was fairly far away from their house and, while it wasn't a bad place, it did not have the greatest food either. It was the most "ordinary" a restaurant could possibly be.

"Well, since it was just us two, I figured here would be nice. It was the first place we went to together." Junko smiled as traces of nostalgia twinkled in her eyes.

Homura wouldn't consider the place nostalgic at all. At best it was the place where she met the person that made her begin to take more control of her life, at worst it was just another place she ate at a long time ago. Thinking again over her own thoughts, Homura supposed that maybe it could be considered nostalgic, but even then she was being generous.

"If I am to be honest, I barely remember that first meeting." Most would see saying something like that difficult to do and rude to hear, but Homura didn't see it as either.

Junko gasped with over-exaggeration at Homura's comment. "But that day was so fun. I met a tiny and cute girl, and you got your first friend! How could you ever forget such a special day!"

Homura inwardly deadpanned at the sight of her mother acting like she was. Most of the time, Junko was the perfect woman. She was respectful and proper, yet laid back and unfeminine most of the time. Right now she was acting like a school girl teasing her best friend over a crush.

"If you wouldn't mind reminding me then."

The comment slipped out before she could hold her tongue. She had meant to say it inwardly in a slightly sarcastic tone and instead say something to dismiss the idea that she was bothered by not remembering that day.

"Gladly!"

Homura inwardly sighed, and this time she made sure it was not actually audible. There was a reason that Tomohisa was the one who was requested to tell stories

-

Junko was walking down the street late at night. There was a slight skip in her step as she happily hummed to herself. After much struggle and sucking up to her boss, she had finally gotten that promotion she had been aiming for. And to make it even better, her beloved Madoka had gotten top of her class in three of her mid-terms.

She had gotten the phone call from her husband earlier letting her know of her daughter's success, and since that call she had been working as fast as she could so she could get home before Madoka went to bed and congratulate her. Despite her fast working, she was only able to get off at eight at night. Madoka was still rather young and considering the half hour commute to work, by the time she got home Madoka would be asleep.

Something as wonderful as her favorite daughter getting perfect scores in not one, not two, but three exams was a lovely feeling. She would obviously put more thought into it before she ever brought it up to Tomohisa, but she wouldn't mind having another child if she got to go through this again.

Junko's train of thought was broken by the sounds of an argument. It was late at night, almost no one was around, the chances of thugs deciding to mug someone was fairly high. It would have been the first time she had encountered idiots trying to get their living by stealing from others this late. She may be a woman, but that didn't mean she couldn't kick butt when she needed to.

Following the sounds, she was led into an alleyway. A short way down it, she could see two figures, they looked like they were in high school, picking on a much younger girl at their feet. In the darkness it was hard to make out details, but it seemed as though it was more physical than just a simple argument.

Deciding to help the small girl being hurt, Junko stepped into the alleyway. Times like these made her glad that she changed out of her work heels into a pair of normal shoes before she left the office.

"Is there a problem here?"

She made sure to take on her most intimidating voice possible as she spoke to the two high schoolers. They turned around to face her and she could make out some of their features. Piercings, dyed blond hair, moronic hair styles. She didn't like enforcing stereotypes, but they fit all the signs of a delinquent.

"Yo old hag, back off. This don't concern you."

Junko's eyebrow twitched. Hag? She was a fine young woman in her ripe years! She was anything but an old hag! Still, losing her temper won't help the situation at all, so despite her desire to pummel these two punks into the concrete, she held herself back.

"I see two, if I may be frank, problematic children hurting a girl not only younger than them, but who can't defend herself. I think that is enough to make me step in."

"Her mom took something 'portant from us, we can't find her, but we found this girl. We only roughin' her up enough so she can bring us it back."

The boy's sentence made little sense to Junko, but even with an excuse, there was no reason to pick on someone weaker than you.

"Your reasons don't matter, leave her alone." Junko was beginning to get very frustrated. These two idiots refused to listen to her, had the nerve to insult her, and attempted to make themselves out to be the victims?

"That's 'nough outta you!"

The taller of the two boys attempted to swing at Junko. She had taken self-defense lessons when she was much younger, and while she didn't want to have to use them, it was rather satisfying to do so.

Catching the boy's arm with her hand, in barely a blink of the eye, she had twisted his arm down behind his back in a hammerlock hold. She pushed his wrist up towards his shoulder slightly more than she should have, but these brats needed to be taught a lesson.

After the sudden surprise of a woman being able to deflect the punch and counter against it, the second boy began to panic after hearing his friend cry out in pain. Putting her most intimidating face on, she said as coldly as she could. "Leave. Her. Alone."

She let the boy go and considering how quickly they both ran away, Junko thought she might have even had somehow made her eyes glow during that encounter. Sighing contentedly, she watched the two brats scramble away, then bent down towards the girl.

"Hey there, it's all right now. What's your name?" Switching to her more motherly tone, she began to look over the small girl. She seemed to have a few bruises forming, but luckily there was little damage done. However, she still had several wounds of varying kinds that were too old to be from those two boys.

The girl's face looked as though she had not cared about what had just happened. In a very stoic voice the girl responded. "Homura."

"Where is your mom and dad Homura?"

"Dad's gone. Mom's at home."

"Why are you out here at night alone?"

"Fridge was empty."

Normally when someone says they have no food at home, or that there is nothing to eat, there is plenty to eat but nothing suiting their tastes at that moment. However, looking at how frail Homura's body was, Junko couldn't help but wonder if she was literally saying they had nothing in their fridge. Why else would a girl, barely even ten years old, be sent out so late to buy food.

A growl filled the air. Surprised at the sudden sound, Junko looked towards its source. It came from the girl's stomach. That was more than enough to confirm her thought. This girl had no food at home, that wasn't something she could just let sit.

"Homura. Would you like something to eat?"

All Junko got in response was a small nod.

"Would you like me to get you a meal somewhere?"

Another nod.

Normally a child would be following the stranger danger code by this point and either be refusing her offer, or pulling their danger alert speaker's switch. This girl's life at home must not be very good if she would be so open to going with a stranger. Even if she wasn't a mother, basic ethics told her she had to help this girl however she could.

With a bit of assistance getting Homura to her feet, the two went to a nearby restaurant that was still open. The building was mostly empty and it seemed close to closing. Just to not frustrate the workers there, Junko made sure to tell them that they wouldn't be staying long and that they just wanted a quick meal.

After being sat at a table, Junko had to help Homura order her meal. The amount of options available overwhelmed Homura. Eventually deciding on a simple order of two Omurice, both of themsat silently as they waited for their food to arrive.

Considering the restaurant was empty and the cooks didn't want to stay longer than their shift's normal hours, their food came out quickly. Junko ate her meal quickly, but made sure not to leave a mess behind. Homura on the other hand, tore into her meal like a ravenous wolf.

After they finished their meals and were waiting for their bill, Junko decided on how she wanted to go about making sure this girl was as safe as she could be. Admittedly it wasn't the best, but considering she only met Homura barely an hour ago, it was the best she could come up with at that time.

"Homura. Would you be willing to promise me something?"

Homura gave a small nod in response.

So easily accepting a promise. This girl was definitely something special. Junko slid a small slip of paper across the table to Homura. "If you ever have any trouble with anything, please call this phone number. It is the number for my cell. I mean it. Anything at all, doesn't matter how small as long as it is troubling you."

Homura took the paper and stuffed it into the pocket of her dress, but otherwise didn't respond to Junko's request. Junko couldn't help but sigh. She hoped that the girl was just quiet by nature and it wasn't that she only took the paper out of courtesy.

"Thank you for the food."

A small voice interrupted Junko's line of thought.

"You're welcome Homura. After this, would you mind if I walked you home? I want to be sure you get home safely."

Homura gave another nod.

In a way, Junko was glad that she wasn't able to get home in time to congratulate Madoka. While of course she wanted to be with her family, if being late in getting home was the cost of helping a small child who needed help, she would be happy to do it again. Not all the time, but a few more situations like this wouldn't have been that bad.

-

"And then I walked you home, we parted ways and nothing happened for a while. Then a few months later I get a call from you. A few other calls were made, and away from that bad life you went!"

Junko had finally finished her story of how the two had met. It only took way too long as well.

"Wait when did the food get here? And how are you half done with it already!"

"It came around the part after you got rid of those two. You just didn't notice."

Junko stared at Homura for a few moments before letting out a pervious laugh.

"hehe… there I went again. You should have stopped me when the food came."

"You always eat fast, I wanted to take my time eating and finish before you for once."

At least that is what she said. Junko may be her mother now, but she still wasn't quite willing to say that she didn't stop Junko when the food arrived because it seemed like Junko enjoyed telling the story. Homura wasn't quite sure she would be willing to say something so embarrassing for a while yet. Maybe to Madoka though. Maybe…

"I'll just have to eat quickly then and finish before you!"

"Don't even try. You always cause a mess when you eat quickly."

"I'll prove it this time that I won't make a mess!"

Homura gave up trying to defuse Junko. Junko's old "Yankee" personality was beginning to seep back through. She gave a silent apology to whoever was going to have to clean their table after they left. But still, trading an outright bad family for an annoying but manageable one? Homura had to say that was a pretty good trade. 

* * *

And that is it! Thinking about it, this chapter is kind of part 1 of 2 that is going over homura's backstory in my AU. This chapter was fun to write because I want to see if anyone can piece together the missing details about Homura's past and why she is so stoic and serious despite not having gone through the whole time loop thing from the anime. She was originally a very shy and emotional girl after all. What on earth could have happened to here in this AU to change that? my my, I can't help but wonder?

Joking aside, part 2 is coming in a few chapters. I have 2 I want to write before I finish it.

Stay tuned for next time, when it is revealed that Mami has been making a friend without the other girls knowing. Who could it be?


	10. A Cheesy Visit

Hello again. I'm pretty sure everyone an their mother saw this chapter coming after last chapter's tease. Though it did take a while to come up with the idea for it. I was trying to find a way to introduce Nagisa without having her end up joining the family, but then I realized that Nagisa is younger than most of the cast, and I had recently learned about a system my county is doing similar to this where I would go to elementary schoolers and bond with one of them. Anyways I hope this came out well. It was hard getting a fix on Nagisa's personality considering how little of her personality we see. Enjoy.

* * *

Currently near the doorway of the Kaname household, an almost riot was about to happen.

"YOU WHAT!"

"Where's the guy that did this to you then scrammed off. I'm gonna pound his face in!"

"Sayaka, Kyouko, please calm down. It isn't like that at all!"

Standing in the hallway on one end were Sayaka, Kyouko, and Madoka, on the other was Mami and a small white haired girl hiding behind the blonde.

"His name! What's his name!"

"Kyouko, please don't get mad. Mami said she was bringing a friend over today!"

Spinning around with a confused look on both their faces, the bluenette and redhead where both doubtful of Madoka's statement. "When did she say that?"

Madoka took a step back once the focus had drifted to her. "Umm… She told us, yesterday I think."

Kyouko glanced back towards Mami, then back to Madoka. "Ya think? That doesn't mean for sure then, right?"

"No. She indeed told us yesterday that the student she was tutoring would be visiting our house for their weekly session." The calm and collected voice of reason in the family, Homura's, cut through the unnatural amount of tension filling the air for how small of a surprise it was.

Kyouko and Sayaka were both shoved to the side as Homura stepped between them. "Forgive these idiots, they weren't listening when Mami said you were coming. Enjoy your stay here." Grabbing both girls by their ears, Homura dragged them off into another room.

A few moments of silence passed before any of the three girls moved.

"Well then, now it has calmed down." Mami stepped away from the small girl behind her. "Would you like some food and maybe something to drink Nagisa? I don't think you would want to start our lesion right after you get here after all."

Surprised at how quickly Mami had gotten over the previous events, Nagisa blinked several times before nodding her head. Any offer of a meal from Mami was a treat worth real money.

"Wonderful!" A smile grew on Mami's face that radiated happiness. Turning to Madoka, she asked "Would you like to join us?"

Madoka responded with a warm smile and a nod.

Nagisa sat at the kitchen table as she watched Madoka and Mami move about in the kitchen preparing a small snack. Mami had set about boiling a pot of water for the tea, which she rarely ate without, while Madoka was gathering a small plate of snack foods like crackers.

Nagisa's head was filled with nervousness and joy. She had never really been to another person's house before. In her elementary school, most of the other students treated her like a classmate, but never really as a friend. They would talk with her, and play with her during recess, but no one ever really tried to get to know her as a friend. But then, Mami arrived.

"Nagisa? Is there any type of tea you would like?"

Nagisa's thoughts were broken by Mami's voice. She normally didn't know much about tea, but after spending several months with Mami, she ended up learning all about it, despite not really wanting too. "Should you have Oolong, that would be fine."

Her school had set up a program where High Schoolers would come and meet with the students and get to know them, and possibly tutor them when needed. It wasn't officially stated by the staff, but Nagisa suspected the purpose of it was to try and give them an upperclassman to admire and try to mimic, in hopes of curbing any future troublemakers.

All of her fellow classmates found upperclassmen who they bonded with quickly, but for Nagisa she drifted from High Schooler to High Schooler and no one could really bond with her well. Right as she was about to give up hope, she ran into Mami.

Mami was kind and sweet, and treated her very nicely. She let Nagisa talk about herself, without trying to take control of the conversation. When Nagisa wanted to change topics, or ask questions, Mami did everything she asked without any complaints. Soon enough the two of them wanted to pair together for the program. Mami was the nicest and kindest person she had ever met, next to her mother and father so she was more than happy to do so.

Finally, after several months, the program had ended, but the two of them decided to stay in contact. Every week they would get together at Nagisa's house for a study session. However, before they begun Mami would get some food and the two of them would talk and catch up before they began. When Nagisa really needed help with her classes, Mami would teach her everything she needed, and when she didn't, the "tutoring" session would just involve an hour or two of conversation before Mami left.

Madoka and Mami sat down across from Nagisa. Taking a moment to blink, she suddenly realized that the food had all been set out. Her eye's scanned over the various snacks laid before her. Crackers, small slices of meat, grapes and carrots and small squares of…

Cheese…

Cheese!

CHEESE!

Nagisa had to hold herself back before she threw everything out of the way and tackled the plate of cheese to the ground. Where she not so focused on keeping her body still, she might have noticed that she had begun to drool.

"Go ahead." Mami said, pushing the plate towards her

Like a starting pistol at a horse race, Nagisa's arms became one with the speed of light as she rocketed towards the plate of cheese and began to voraciously devour every piece on the plate.

The gritty, fruity flavor of Parmesan. The sharp, sweet taste of Provolone. The mild, buttery texture of Cream Havarti. Nagisa was in heaven. If anyone was to ever say cheese was not god's greatest gift to humanity, she would personally punch them in the face.

She stopped stuffing her cheeks once she heard the sound of laughter. It took her several moments before she realized who it was coming from. Mami was lightly giggling at the sight of Nagisa attacking the cheese, while Madoka was having a harder time trying to suppress her laughter.

Nagisa sat there, cheeks filled with cheese slowly reddening. She felt so embarrassed. She had completely forgotten she was at another's house and not her own. Slowly slinking down in her chair, she tried to hide herself, somehow hoping it would save her.

"I'm sorry, sorry!" Madoka was barely letting out between laughs. Finally managing to get her laughter under control, Madoka wiped a tear from her eye. "Mami told me a lot about you, especially your love of cheese. She didn't really specify how deep your love was though."

A combination of pride and more embarrassment flooded through Nagisa. She was extremely happy Mami was telling other's about her. It was proof that Mami liked her. But she was embarrassed at how Mami was telling other's about her. It was confusing, being happy and sad about the same thing at the same time.

"Umm, Nagisa? Can I ask something?" Madoka quieted down from her laughter. "Your eyes. They look… different than normal. Why are they like that?" A few moments passed before Madoka became flustered, saying in a panic "I-If that's o-okay! I don't want to pry at all."

Nagisa expected this at some point. At her school, most of the students would ask about her pure white hair or her unusually colored eyes. But once the hype over her odd traits faded, she became just a background character in their lives.

"It's fine. I have Central Heterochromia. The inner part of my iris is red, while the outer part is yellow. This trait I was born with. It is what most notice about me."

Nagisa was confused as to why her answer seemed to bother Madoka.

"That isn't really nice of them."

Now she was just confused. She couldn't connect her answer to being a bother, and then to others being mean. Was it the way she phrased it? Despite only being 8 years old, she spoke rather eloquently, something she picked up from her father.

"May I ask what you mean?" The only real way to clarify her confusion was to ask, so she did so.

"Your eyes aren't the only interesting thing about you. I know I haven't known you for too long, but I am sure there is more to catch attention than just your eyes."

Her thoughts were correct. Madoka had misinterpreted her sentence due to her odd speech patterns.

"Madoka, I don't think that is what she meant." Mami seemed to have understood Nagisa's intended meaning as well, and came to clarify for Madoka. "She was trying to say it is what caught people's attention first, not that it was the only thing."

Madoka sat silently for a moment before blushing, embarrassed by her mistake. "Eh… I'm sorry. Your- er… I haven't really heard anyone talk like you do, so I'm sorry I didn't understand."

A small smile spread across Nagisa's face. It wasn't often that she met someone, that apologized so honestly after messing up. Especially since she was in in third grade and her fellow classmates were still rather young and immature. "No need to worry."

"Ah! Nagisa! I almost lost track of time!" Mami jumped to her feet, almost making the now almost empty teapot tip over. "You have your exam coming up so we need to make sure you know the material."

Letting out a loud groan, Nagisa slumped to the table, still eating whatever cheese remained on her plate. "Must we really? It won't be all that difficult you know."

Mami made her lessons fun, or at least as fun as studying could be, but it was still rather boring. Most of Nagisa's classes were passed with minimal studying, but flying colors regardless. The rest of her classes that she didn't ace were due to her just not having the motivation to try. Classes like art or history were so boring that even though she could clobber them with ease, she didn't want to.

"If you study and pass my quiz at the end of today, I will give you more cheese. But if you want to skip today's lessions…"

Damn that vile woman, hitting Nagisa right in her soft spot. She was stuck in a horrible situation, the worst she would likely ever be in throughout her entire life. Do the boring act of studying, or get cheese?

Actually putting it like that it was barely a conflict at all. She would be willing to sell her soul to the devil if it meant getting her favorite cheese. She would sell it twice for some cheesecake too.

Letting out a combination of an excited gasp and a disappointed sight, she leapt to her feet as well. "CHEESE!"

A short giggle escaped Mami's lips. "If that is your choice, come on. We can study in my room." Mami placed her hands on Nagisa's shoulders and began to led her out of the room. Before she left, she stopped and looked back over her shoulder towards Madoka. "Madoka? Sorry to bother you with this, but would you mind cleaning up?"

"Leave it to me Mami."

Nagisa was too focused on the thought of more cheese to really pay much attention to the words between the two sisters. Though she still dreaded having to study, even if the greatest reward possible was offered for doing so.

Was 'Out of the frying pan, and into the fire' the proper term for this? Likely not. But even if it was Nagisa was sure fire had to be used to make cheese so maybe it wasn't all that bad.

* * *

Nagisa's unusual eloquent manner of speech was hard to get right, I hope I didn't over do it or anything. In case anyone was wondering why she is overly obsessed with cheese, even by normal standards, according to the wiki it is likely that she became a magical girl for one single cheesecake rather than healing her mother's illness. as well as she also admitted she came back as Godoka's secretary just to eat cheese again. There was one small thing I wanted to add about Nagisa, but I could never find the right place to add it in, so I will be holding onto it for a future chapter. It isn't something worthy of it's own chapter though. Anywho... Stay tuned for next time when Sayaka hears about a certain special boy who shall not be named, being invited out on a date by a girl. This is not allowed. It can not be allowed...


	11. Following A Third Wheel

It's been a long time, a long long time... Sorry about that. Writer's block is a pain. I hope you enjoy this chapter. It has been brewing since last chapter(before the halloween one), but I could never really get it started since I have trouble with writing Sayaka. I don't mean this as a bad thing, but she is just so normal. It is much easier for me to write personalities that are heavily focused on one thing(Homura is super stoic, Madoka is hyper cheerful, Kyouko's a tough girl with a soft inside, ect). Enjoy. 

* * *

"I'm glad we got here in time. They had almost run out of coupon tickets!"

The sun was shining overhead, crowds were bustling in the streets, and the girls were out making a shopping trip. The local supermarket was having a sale where if you buy 4000 yen worth of groceries, you would be able to get 600 yen off your next purchase, but only for the first two hundred customers. Mami and Homura had teamed up together to find the best way to use this sale to their advantage. Feeding five girls wasn't cheap after all.

They decided on splitting into groups of three to take advantage of it. Kyouko and Sayaka were sent after the meat and other frozen goods, Homura and Madoka took care of the vegetables and fruits, while Mami dealt with the other miscellaneous foodstuffs they needed. Each group went to the checkout line and left five minutes apart, with Madoka and Homura going first since their food could sit out in the sun, and Kyouko and Sayaka last as they needed to get home fast to avoid spoiling.

"Ya know Mami, aren't you the one who came up with this idea? Didn't take you for the type to do a spitball like this." Kyouko lightly elbowed Mami in the side to emphasize her point.

Giving nothing other than a soft smile, Mami responded. "We didn't break any rules, so there is nothing to worry about."

"They are the ones who didn't account for someone taking advantage of their rules like this, so we did nothing wrong." Knowing what Mami was attempting to very politely say, Homura clarified.

Sayaka attempted to run the math in her head. If 12000 yen could pay for two weeks' worth of food for them, it would end up costing the Kaname's… A lot of money to take care of them. "It does take a lot of money to feed us all. I have to wonder how your Mom brings in the money to pay for stuff like this Madoka."

"Actually, it wasn't Mama who pays for this. It was Papa."

Sayaka and Kyouko did an auditory double take. "Your dad? Isn't he stay at home? Where would he get the money?" Sayaka asked

Madoka racked her brain searching for an answer, but nothing came to her. "Umm… I don't really know how he gets it, but I know it has something to do with "stocks"."

"Stocks? What are those?" The gears in Kyouko's head could almost be seen turning. Despite being the oldest, she had some of the least knowledge of the adult world, the office and business aspects at least.

"They can be rather complicated, but think of it like buying a tiny portion of a company. Anytime that company makes money, since you own some of it, they give you a small portion of their profits." Mami gave out a hyper simplified answer to Kyouko's question. "There have been reports of kids around our age being given 4500 yen or so to put into stocks by their parents, and leaving with more than five times that. Of course, if you don't play it smart, you can lose money just as easily."

Steam began rising from Kyouko's ears. She was trying her hardest to understand what it must be like, buying and selling stocks. Tell her to map out the best route to and from a food stall without being seen, and she could do it in her sleep. However, telling her to manage finances beyond simple debit style accounts would cause her brain to meltdown. Despite the three-year difference between the two girls, Kyouko often came to Sayaka asking for help with the redhead's bank account.

"Think of it like an apple farm. If you own one or two trees, each time the farmers harvest the apples, they need to give you the ones from your tree." Sayaka said, using her free arm to give Kyouko a slight hit to grab her attention.

The moment Sayaka spoke up, the steam coming from Kyouko's vanished. The air seemed to radiate around her head as she beamed with a smile. "That ain't complicated at all."

A brief moment of silence passed as all four girls mentally asked why Kyouko didn't get it the first time then, but it quickly faded.

Finally reaching the park, the girls sighed with relief. The park meant that there was only another twenty minutes before they got home. Then Mami could start cooking dinner alongside their father, and then they could have a nice meal before they would spend the rest of the day relaxing.

Or at least, that was the plan.

The unofficial plan they had set up came crashing down when Sayaka stopped walking. It took the girls a few moments to realize she had lagged behind the rest. Turning around to call to her, Madoka was about to speak up when she saw the look on Sayaka's face. One of a combination of surprise and terror.

"Sayaka?" she softly called out.

No response from the bluenette. Realizing that she was staring at something, Mami followed her gaze across the park. Sayaka had been staring at a couple sitting on one of the park benches talking. A grey-haired boy with an arm heavily wrapped in gauze, alongside a blonde dressed in a black dress with white trim.

Mami had never seen the blonde before, but the grey-haired boy looked very familiar, but she couldn't place where she had seen him.

"Isn't that… Kyousuke?"

Hearing his name, something seemed to click inside of Sayaka. With an almost catlike agility, she dropped her shopping bag and dashed behind a set of bushes near the bench Kyousuke was sitting on.

"What are you doing!" Kyouko said in a loud whisper. "Get over here, we gotta get this stuff back home!"

No response.

"Sayaka!" Kyouko's voice was beginning to rise, but Sayaka didn't pay any attention. Letting out a groan of frustration Kyouko turned around and grabbed the bag Sayaka was carrying. "Let's leave her, the food's gonna spoil if we don't get home. She can take care of herself."

Mami looked between Sayaka hidden behind the bushes, and Kyouko walking back towards the house. Letting a small pout cross her face, she sighed and began to follow Kyouko. "I hate to say, but I agree. We need to get the food home for dinner."

Madoka took several slow steps in the direction Mami and Kyouko went, but kept looking back towards Sayaka. She knew Sayaka would be fine, but she still didn't want her best friend, now adopted sister, to be alone when she wasn't paying attention to her own safety.

Suddenly an idea popped up in Madoka's mind. Spinning to face Homura who was patiently waiting next to her, she held out her hand.

"Homura? Would you mind staying with Sayaka and making sure she will be fine? I can take your grocery bag home."

Homura stayed quiet for a few moments before blinking. Reaching out to hand Madoka the bag she was carrying she gave a small nod. "Alright."

Madoka, beaming with a smile far brighter than a human should be allowed to have, quickly gave her thanks before turning and running after Mami and Kyouko who had already gone a fair distance away.

Homura honestly didn't want to have to watch over Sayaka. The bluenette was obnoxious and got on Homura's nerves a lot of the time, though she figured that came with the territory of having a younger sister. It must be hell for Mami or Kyouko to have to deal with so many younger sisters. However, being a request from Madoka, Homura didn't have the heart to turn it down.

People liked to tease Homura over her obsession with Madoka. What people said never really bothered her, because regardless of what may be actually going on, people will interpret it their own ways, which was fine, so long as they didn't get irritating with the teasing. While she did care for Madoka more than any of the other girls, there was something much deeper to it than that, something more personal.

Walking over and crouching down next to Sayaka, Homura watched Kyousuke and the unknown woman talking. They were sitting close together, looking over papers inside of a folder the woman was holding. Every so often one of them would point to something, and then the women would either erase or write something with her pencil.

Looking sidewise towards Sayaka, Homura could tell it was irritating her. Between her tightly shut mouth, narrowed eyes, clenched fists, and the slight red color spreading on her face, it was pretty obvious that Sayaka was mad.

Sayaka acted as though no one really knew, but almost anyone could tell she had a crush on the grey-haired boy. Ever since the two had met in grade school band club, they kicked it off very quickly.

Kyousuke was, for his age, a master at the violin and was quite popular for that reason. Sayaka on the other hand, was mostly a failure in the club. She tried to play the French Horn because it would be cool. However, during her time in Band club, she had almost never even played a note correctly, leading to her dropping out early on. Before she did drop out, she heard Kyousuke's violin playing and began to talk to him about music. Soon enough they became friends and the crush only developed from there.

Or at least that is what Homura had heard. One night her adoptive mother Junko had come home heavily intoxicated after a long day of work, and Homura was the only one without homework so she had to watch over Junko until she recovered. One thing led to another and suddenly Homura had gotten herself stuck listening to a long story about all of Madoka's grade school friends.

A suddenly shuffling from her side snapped Homura out of her thoughts.

"They're moving…"

Looking back towards the bench, Sayaka was right. Kyousuke and the woman had begun walking away together, still continuing their conversation.

Sayaka stood up and darted behind a nearby tree. In a comedic fashion, she would peek out and then dart to another piece of cover nearby in an attempt to follow them. Homura on the other hand, just stepped onto the walkway and walked normally, staying generally near Sayaka.

Sayaka followed Kyousuke and the woman, trying to listen in on their conversation while Homura tagged along behind not caring much about the creepy stalking her younger sister was doing. Eventually they reached a small restaurant.

It was a sort of hole-in-the-wall style place. The building wasn't that large, but it made up for room by having several tables outside. Due to the time of day it was rather slow, only one couple were sitting at an outside table. Kyousuke and the woman went inside, and after several moments went back outside to seat themselves at a table.

Sayaka paused to think for a moment before trying to sneak past Kyousuke's gaze and move inside. Even with both her lack of skill in sneaking, alongside her oddly colored blue hair, she somehow managed to avoid his gaze and get inside the restaurant. Homura, like before, simply walked past uncaring of whether she was seen or not.

The two girls were greeted by a waitress who told them to sit wherever they liked. Sayaka moved back outside and sat down at the table next to Kyousuke's, seating herself so her back was to Kyousuke's back. Homura sat herself across from Sayaka and let out a sigh before picking up the menus pre-placed on the table. All that was missing from this scene was Sayaka somehow pulling a trench coat and a hat out of nowhere and putting them on.

Leaning back, while still trying to stay hunched forward, Sayaka attempted to listen in on the conversation. Homura caught a few words she had heard from Mami and Sayaka's conversations, things like "Maestro", "Chord", and "Duet". She assumed Sayaka must know what the terms meant, as they seemed to be related to music, a subject Homura never really had much interest in.

Soon the waitress from inside came out to their table and went through the usual introduction, and asked for their order. Homura ordered just an appetizer, and considering Sayaka was so engrossed in listening into Kyousuke's conversation, she ordered something small for Sayaka as well. The girl may irritate her the majority of the time, but it wasn't with ill intent and she still was Homura's sister.

After sitting quietly, thinking over what she should do when she gets home, what Madoka might be doing right now, and a variety of other topics, the food finally came out. At the same time, the woman Kyousuke was with left the table to take a phone call. Deciding she had enough of following Sayaka around, even if it was a request by Madoka, Homura spoke up.

"Sayaka. The food's here."

Glaring at Homura with the force of an explosion, Sayaka violently hissed a "Shh" at the girl. Suddenly Kyousuke perked up and began to turn around, causing Sayaka to freeze.

"Sayaka? Is that you?"

With a cold sweat now running down her face, she slowly turned around letting out an obviously forced laugh. "Ahahahah. K-Kyousuke! What a surprise! I didn't see you there."

"I thought I heard your name! I didn't know you knew about this place Sayaka. It's pretty small, but I really like coming here." Catching that he failed to greet the ravenette properly, he faced Homura and gave a quick bow. "Hello Homura. It's been a while, but thanks for your help with the stage lighting during the last school concert.

Nodding back, Homura responded. "Of course." Several months before Kyousuke's injury, Homura had helped the school with the technical side of things for one of the violinist's concerts. She was slightly surprised he remembered her from back then.

Kyousuke turned to face Sayaka again. "I don't see you outside of school too often. How did you find this place?"

"I… er…" Sayaka begun freezing up now that the spotlight was suddenly on her. Homura, feeling oddly generous, pulled a cover story out. "We got hungry on the way back from the park and decided to stop here. We haven't been here before." Pausing to take a drink of water, Homura decided she had been nice enough for one day, it was time to start the teasing.

"We saw you in the park earlier with that lady. You two seem awfully close."

Rubbing the back of his head in a shy manner, Kyousuke responded. "Y-yeah. I've known her for a really long time. Miss Lunasa is very important to me…"

The set up was almost too perfect. "So… Is she your girlfriend?"

A massive blush burst across both Sayaka and Kyousuke's face. The grey-haired boy almost jumped up from his seat rapidly firing off responses

"No no no no! No way! I mean I like her, but not at all like that! She's my old violin teacher!"

Homura glanced over to Sayaka who seemed to be still recovering from the idea of Kyousuke having a girlfriend. A small grin spread onto Homura's face, and to hide it she took another drink from her glass. "That explains it. Doesn't it Sayaka."

Snapping back to reality, the bluenette began another forced laugh. "Hehehe, yeah. I thought you two were dating or something. It's nice to hear she is just your teacher."

Homura winced internally. "Nice to hear"? Homura didn't have much room to talk, but Sayaka really doesn't have much experience with boys if she let something like that slip out. Thankfully Kyousuke didn't seem to have noticed it.

"She is a close friend of my family. She called to see if I was willing to help her with a piece she was composing. I might even help her preform when it is finished. Assuming I get this off in time for it." Kyousuke held up his left arm which was wrapped in gauze bandages from the wrist to the elbow.

She knew that Kyousuke had been injured, potentially permanently, which caused him to spend several weeks in the hospital, but she didn't realize he was actually recovering. "I didn't know that you would be able to recover."

"I didn't expect it either. After the nerves in my left hand got hurt that badly, the doctors said I wouldn't be able to play violin ever again. Suddenly my parents got this call from a big name in the music world who said they would be willing to pay for a brand new highly specialized treatment that would help, and in return once I get out of high school I would go play for them." A massive smile spread across his face. "I'm still recovering from it, so I can't do much with this hand. But if it means I can play my violin again, I will wait as long as I need to.

"Kyousuke?"

Looking up from her meal, Homura noticed the woman had returned.

"Ah, Miss Lunasa."

"Who are these two young ladies?"

Taking a closer look at the woman before her, Homura was rather surprised by her appearance. A fully Japanese face, yet natural, undyed blond hair. Her name wasn't very Japanese, considering it was meant to be pronounced with the English "L", a sound the Japanese language lacked. Despite having perfect Japanese, she was also able to pronounce foreign words just as easily.

Pushing her thoughts aside, Homura introduced herself. "Hello. Homura Akemi."

"I'm Sayaka Miki. We are classmates of Kyousuke's."

Lunasa clapped her hands together in excitement. "Is that so? It's nice to hear that Kyousuke is able to make friends outside of music." She reached over and ruffled Kyousuke's hair, much to his dismay. "I knew you had it in you!"

"Miss Lunasa! Please stop it!"

Letting go of the boy's head, Lunasa looked between her table and the one Homura and Sayaka were sitting in. "Hmm… By chance, would you mind if we joined you at your table? I would like to be able to talk with you both some more."

Sayaka responded happily, while Homura just gave a nod.

Pulling out their chairs, Kyousuke and Lunasa moved their drinks over and sat down on opposite sides between the two girls.

"I have a very important question for you two girls, since you are his classmates. What types of things does he get into during school? Does he have a girlfriend? Or maybe does he swing the other way?"

Almost immediately Lunasa scooted close to Sayaka so that she could tease Kyousuke. Sayaka, understanding what the older woman was attempting to do, backed her up and played along.

Homura found it interesting how Sayaka would change from being timid and shy around Kyousuke, to being open as long as there was someone else with her. It almost felt like the bluenette mimicked the emotions of those around her. If others were outgoing and happy, she would be too, but if they were introverted and sad, she would be as well. It was just one of the many things she would have to learn about her new sisters.

Well, it seems Sayaka was all set now. There wasn't any need to hang around any longer. But at the same time, being around others like this, it sort of felt… nice.

Maybe she would stick around a little longer. She needs to watch over her younger sister after all. 

* * *

I think this chapter came out well, at least most of it. I still don't like the ending, but I wanted to get it out in time for Valentine's day. And for those wondering, yes Kyousuke's teacher is based on Lunasa Prismriver from Touhou. I like the Prismriver sisters, and I felt with how Lunasa is literally a ghost formed from a violin(and memories of it's player) she would work as a violin teacher.

I also hope the stuff about Kyousuke was alright. This series is meant to be light hearted(Which is why I removed the halloween chapter and made it it's own story) so I didn't want him to never be able to play violin again, but it was hard coming up with an idea that wasn't just a Deus Ex Machina that had no connections to the main show. I figured that due to how fancy his hospital room was, his parents must either be extremely rich, or someone interested in his playing was willing to pay the bills. The latter seems more likely just because we know nothing of his family, so I picked that for this story.

Anywho, stayed tuned next time when Kyouko takes a day off to bond with her new father and little brother.


End file.
